Morning Star: Part 3
by DarkUnderworld
Summary: Failure was not an option, so what happens when you fail the one you love? Final Part to the Morning Star series.
1. Chapter 1

**Alrighty Chapter 1 of Part 3! **

**Thank you to everyone who has been reading this story, I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing it.=)**

**This will get a little angsty, but a little angst can be fun.**

**A/N Don't own the turtles only my oc's.**

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><p><span>Chapter 1<span>

**Donatello** sat down beside Katherine. She looked over at him and smiled. Her golden hair was moving softly in the light wind that swirled around them. The butterflies danced around her, sometimes getting caught in her golden locks, at other times, they seemed to be content to just flutter around her or land in her hair or shoulders.

The butterflies were always black, white, purple or gold. He didn't know why, just as he didn't know why she was always sitting in the same spot looking out over skies that shifted from soft blues to intense purples. The grass was always too green, the days, always impossibly bright and sunny.

"Hello Kitten." He said softly to her as he watched her pause in her drawing. She was always drawing. Sometimes she would pause to think, or listen, or just watch the pristine untouched valley that stretched out below them.

"Hello." She smiled at him as she went back to drawing.

He watched her for a while. He had never really thought about Katherine's interest in drawing and art, but he knew she enjoyed it. He just didn't know why his mind was so obsessed with it.

He had begun dreaming of Katherine when he had finally allowed himself to sleep. After their world had been shattered and he had had to live with the crushing knowledge that they had failed to bring Katherine home alive, their lives began to splinter and crack. But they held together, they managed to take it a day at a time because they had no choice. The dead didn't care, they were gone, it was the living you had to live for, at least that is what he told himself everyday as he dragged himself out of bed.

When he had begun to dream of Katherine he had wanted to sleep forever. Even though he knew it was just his subconscious creating a world where the object of his grief and his love could live, he still wanted to visit and stay there forever, because in the world his mind had created, Katherine was still alive.

But he had found that he did not dream of her unless he got out of bed and lived. He couldn't just go through the motions, he had to actually deal with his grief. Only then could he return to the dream that would await him at the end of the day.

"What are you drawing today?" He asked her.

She paused. "I'm not sure." She said to him as she showed him a half finished picture of a dragon, specifically the dragon that the other _Michelangelo_ had turned into to get them to Heaven from Hell.

"It's the eternal spirit dragon, Feng." He said to her.

She smiled at him and nodded. "Not an actual real dragon though." She said as she began adding the details of the dragon's scales.

"No. He belongs in another world, where things turned out better." He said softly, grief clenching his heart so tightly it hurt.

"Nothing can ever really be Destroyed." Katherine said softly.

"I know." He said softly.

"Sometimes it is just different."

"I know, but it is still just as gone." He said wretchedly.

She stopped sketching and looked off into the valley. "You always seem so sad Donatello." She said softly as she looked at him.

At least she seemed to know who he was today. When he had first started dreaming of her, sometimes she didn't know who he was, who she was, nothing, she was just a blank slate. Other times, she seemed to know exactly who he was, who she was and what had happened.

He supposed it was his brain telling him that even if they had managed to rescue Katherine, she probably wouldn't have come back sane. Being dragged to Hell and tortured would probably have broken her mind.

He looked away from her and watched the butterflies dance in the wild flowers.

Sometimes he cursed Fate for having such a sick sense of humour. For showing him paradise and then ripping it away by killing the woman he loved. The woman they had all loved. His heart clenched at the thought of his brother, Raphael.

"You're thinking of Raphael again." Katherine pointed out.

"I know." He sighed as he looked back at her. Sometimes he could feel his brother's grief. He didn't know why, or how. Maybe it had something to do with what Katherine had done to him, but his brother's grief staggered him at times.

"How is he?" She asked him.

He shook his head. "I worry about him." He whispered.

Katherine put down her pad of paper and her pencil.

"He is suffering what no mortal is meant to suffer." She said to him as she slid closer to him putting a hand on his cheek.

"What does that even mean?" He whispered to her.

She shrugged. "There are some things that are not supposed to happen, because the results can be..." She stopped and shook her head.

"Tell me." He insisted.

She leaned closer to him resting her head on his chest. "The sunset is beautiful tonight." She said as he watched the sun begin to set. The sunset was what could only be described as sublime. The purples and reds mixed together as if a god were using the sky as a canvas, the clouds became participants as they were painted in hues and colours not seen in the real world.

She turned her head and looked up at him. She sighed, pulling away and flipping the page of her sketchbook as she began a new drawing.

"Raphael's soul rang with mine," She frowned. "With hers."

"I know, Raph lost his soul mate." He whispered in misery.

She frowned and shook her head. "But remember, soul mate is the closest word to describe what they have, but it isn't correct. You remember, when you were told about soul mates and the bindings. What Raphael and she had was bigger than _just _being a soul mate." She said softly.

He frowned. "You say soul mate as if it was trivial." He said to her.

She tipped her head to the side and assessed him. "His soul rang _with _hers." She said to him. "How rare do you think that is?" She questioned.

"About as rare as finding your soul mate. I would think finding that one person who you can be with for the rest of your life would be a pretty rare thing to find." He said sadly.

"You can figure this one out Donatello. You are the smart one remember, not me."

He studied her face and touched her cheek. It was still warm from the sun. "I'm not good at this sort of thing Kitten, that was what you were for. You were the one who balanced me, who completed me."

"Donatello, Katherine bound your soul to hers. She made you her 'soul mate'. She joined your souls together. You know this."

"But I am not actually her soul mate, Raph is."

Katherine sighed in frustration. "Do you believe that you could ever love another woman, if one was able to love you?" She questioned as she pulled her knees against her chest leaning her cheek against her knee.

"No." He said shaking his head. "There would never be anyone else but you." He whispered.

"Everyone feels like that, but you are mortal, with a mortal heart, you are designed to be able to move on."

He shook his head. "I could never love another." He said emphatically.

"But perhaps one day, you might be able to be happy?"

He smiled bitterly. There would be no 'one day' for him, but he supposed he would play along, after all, it was just a dream. "One day. Not with anyone else, but I may be able to smile and laugh again." He said softly.

"She was your soul mate Donatello. She bound your souls together for all eternity. It is a bond that cannot be broken except with the destruction of one of your souls." She said softly as she kissed him. Her lips were warm and tasted exactly how he remembered they tasted.

He pulled away reluctantly shaking his head because that had already happened. Her soul was gone. "Then what was Raph?" He asked his voice hitching with grief.

She sighed at him again. "He is...more. Soul mates do not actually exist Donatello. You and Katherine were linked and bound creating a bond closer than anything mortals are supposed to feel. She actually created a soul mate bond with you, but actual soul mates do not exist. Think about it. You think the gods that created mortal souls were out there making souls and cleaving them in two to make one perfect pair?" She asked him. "With what you know souls do you really believe they did this?"

He looked at her in shock and thought about it logically. With what he knew about souls, which wasn't a lot, but what he gathered from Darkness, he knew that if you cleaved a soul in two the soul would be irreparably damaged. You wouldn't get two separate souls, just one very broken soul. Darkness' soul was different and could be broken because it wasn't a god made mortal soul, general rules did not apply to her.

"There you go." She said happily.

He sighed. He wished his brain would just tell him what it wanted him to know instead of having Katherine poke and prod at his mind and heart. "So soul mates don't exist." He said finally.

She looked at him. "No, but that perfect person, your one true love, your other 'half', that exists. But all it is, is love. Pure love. Sometimes you have for life love, other times you have short love. Some people would run away if they ever found true love, some might not have a choice."

"So you were truly my soul mate." He said to her as a new wave of grief passed over him.

"Yes, she was." She said to him. "But she loved you and all of your brothers equally, just as you all loved her the same. Michelangelo and Leonardo would qualify as her soul mates as well. They may not have been bound to her soul, but they love her with a love that is for life. But she bound you Donatello, never forget that. It is important."

"So why didn't Darkness just tell us that we were all your soul mates?" He questioned her, ignoring his being briefly bound to her. He had been bound, the chains had broken.

"Because if she told you that you were soul mates she would be lying." She said with a shrug.

It was then he remembered that Darkness couldn't lie, which meant that soul mates didn't actually exist.

"If you believe someone is your soul mate, why can it not be true? If you lose one love of your life, why can you not have another?" Katherine questioned. "Mortals need to believe that there is one person out there for them, and belief makes it true, but Truth and Reality sometimes have different opinions." She said with a smirk.

He massaged his temples. He could actually feel a headache coming on.

"So it's true, but it's not really true?" He asked her in frustration.

"Something like that. No cleaving of souls in two, but true love, forever love, eternal love, absolutely. But I believe Darkness calling Leonardo her soul mate is rather apt." She said with a nod. "Not the actual mate of her soul, not her 'other half' as it were because stars do not have other halves either but," She paused and looked at him seriously. "Their souls rang for each other. Raphael's soul and hers rang _with_ each other."

"I know that is what Darkness said, but I don't even know what that means! If we all loved you equally and you loved us equally, I don't understand how anything is different for him!" He said in frustration.

"If every single soul on earth is unique, and each is humming or ringing at its own frequency, how rare do you suppose it would be to have two souls ringing at the same frequency?" She asked him holding out her hand as a gust of wind picked up flower petals and made them dance around her open palm.

He watched the petals scatter like snow. "Snowflakes."

"Yes." She said simply.

"No two snowflakes would ever be alike." He said with growing realization.

"Correct."

"So it would never happen...ever."

"Correct."

"And if two souls came together and rang with each other they would essentially be..." His mind stumbled. He still didn't know what that would mean.

"True Mates. Two souls ringing together in a world where that is not supposed to happen, because mortals are mortal and never supposed to know that kind of love. It feels the same as true love, but...more. Humans have no words, but her soul rang in time with his, her heart beat in time with his. They began to exist almost as one entity. The longer they were together the stronger the bond, the louder they rang, but the loss, it would be indescribable. It would feel as if his heart needed to cease to beat because there would be no reason to ever go on. With each passing moment his soul would ring for the one soul that rang with his, and receive no answer. Love that strong, that powerful, that eternal, is not meant for creatures who can die." She said softly.

"The pain will never dull." He said to her.

"Never. Time will not heal this Donatello. Death will give him no comfort. But his heart is mortal and it goes on because it must. He is suffering, but so are you. You have felt what he feels because she bound you to her, and you can still feel him sometimes. But you felt your chains break. You felt the loss of that bond, and that is what he feels every moment of every waking day. But you had the strength of will to move on, to live, to be happy."

"But I have you." Donatello whispered.

"He doesn't have the will." She continued."If he had hope, he could be happy again, but he has no hope, and without hope, there is nothing."

"So basically it is what I thought." Donatello said softly. "He will be miserable for the rest of his life. He will continue to just exist." He said miserably.

"Until he doesn't." She confirmed.

He frowned at her as she flickered.

"What do you mean?" He asked her as she flickered again.

"There is no forward for him." She said to him.

"I know he is hurting, we all are, and maybe time will never dull the grief, but..." She cut him off gently putting a finger to his lips.

"What do you see Donatello?" She asked pointing at the sky.

He looked at the night sky as the stars twinkled brightly overhead. These were primordial stars. The type of stars that lit up the sky over forests that did not know time, because man had not invented it yet.

"Stars." He said to her.

She nodded. "The stars have long memories Donatello. There is no time for them. They just are, they exist, but mortals are so much more than that. So much stronger than anything, because they have to survive with the knowledge of Time. If a mortal soul does not move forward in time, they can never really live." She said softly. "But his mind remains fixed upon his broken heart and his broken promises."

"But he wasn't the only one who couldn't save you, he wasn't the only one whose heart was shattered." He said wretchedly.

"Yes, but he swore a promise to himself and to her, and he didn't keep either one."

Donatello closed his eyes. "I know."

"Who is she?" Katherine asked him.

He opened his eyes and looked at the sketch she had drawn on the paper. It was a sketch of Katherine laughing.

"It's you." He said softly as he reached out to touch it.

"Stop." She whispered.

"Stop what?" He asked her.

"Who are you?" She questioned.

He looked at her in shock. That had never happened before. Normally when he dreamed she either knew who he was or she didn't, she didn't forget halfway through.

Katherine clutched at her head threw her head back and screamed.

The scenery around them flickered. Blue sky became terra cotta coloured walls. Oppressive heat swirled around him as their world was bathed in an eerie orange light.

Katherine in the center of the room, arms over her head as she dangled from the chains attached to the cell roof.

She let out a scream as figures moved and danced in front of her, cutting, slashing, and beating her.

A figure obscured by shadow stood at the door as his mind fashioned Katherine's final moments at the hands of demons who wore their faces.

Donatello's mind reeled in horror.

"Who are you?" The figure from the door yelled.

Donatello lifted his head up off his keyboard. He let out a shaky breath. He closed his eyes as he tried to wipe the images from his brain. He had never had a nightmare about Katherine's final moments before. He opened his eyes and he stood up. He walked over to the sink and splashed water on his face as he tried to collect is thoughts.

He removed the excess water from his face and hands with a towel. He looked at his face in the mirror. He was getting old. He wasn't really getting old, but there were days when he felt as if he was double his age. He grimaced as he stood up and cracked his back. Sleeping at the computer had never been comfortable, but now he woke up sore.

His eyes widened in shock as he felt something pull. He felt as if he couldn't breathe, as if his soul and his body were trying to split.

He took a breath as he was able to breathe again, the sensation gone as if it had never been. He unclenched his hand which had grasped at his chest over his heart.

He looked down at his hand. _I hope I'm not having a heart attack_. He thought to himself as he gently sat back down in his chair. He slowly breathed in and out. There were no other shooting pains, no tightness of breath, he relaxed slightly.

He knew he was dying. He wasn't sure how long he had left, a few months, a year, he didn't know, but he had noticed the changes in himself. He wasn't as fast or as strong as he used to be, he was more tired, prone to napping, and his joints and muscles were sore and his coughing fits were getting worse. Sometimes he would cough up blood. Luckily none of his brothers seemed to have noticed, though he suspected that Leonardo was beginning to catch on that something was wrong with him.

He wondered how he would die sometimes. He figured his heart would just stop when the amount of life given to him by Katherine finally ran out.

He looked at the clock. He had been asleep for an hour, but the dream that had turned into a nightmare had felt so much longer than that. Time always felt as if it moved faster, or maybe slower. Perhaps it was more a place where time did not exist, it just was.

He shook the ruminations from his head as he slowly got to his feet. He walked out of his workroom and looked at Raphael who was sitting on the couch. He studied his broken brother for a few moments. Katherine's words came back to him. He would never be at peace, because he could never let her go. He studied his brother's face. There was something in his expression that bothered him. Raphael didn't realize he was being watched. His jaw was clenched in pain, which was not unusual, not anymore. But it was the fierce light of determination that lit his eyes that gave him pause.

"You ready to go Donny?" Leonardo asked his clapping him on the shoulder. He looked at his oldest brother who was looking at him with worried eyes.

"Sure Leo, just give me a minute." He said as he looked back at Raphael. The light had died from his eyes and he was blankly staring at the TV. All signs of determination and pain were gone. Instead irritation and repressed anger played about him.

He frowned in thought as Michelangelo walked over to Raphael who looked over his shoulder to where his baby brother stood talking to him softly.

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><p><strong>So thoughts, opinions?<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**This chapter is a little short, but please enjoy!**

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><p><span>Chapter 2<span>

**Raphael** listened to his baby brother in irritation."I've put the control by your hand Raph, and I've just turned it to the sports channel for you." Michelangelo said to him. He felt his baby brother slide an object into his hand. 'If you need anything just give us a call okay. Just press the button; it will connect you straight to Donny, okay?"

He looked in the direction he could hear his brother's voice coming from. "I got it Mikey." Raphael grumbled in irritation.

"You know what, I think I am going to stay." Michelangelo said.

Raphael felt the weight of the couch shift. "Mikey, you've been cooped up here with me too long." Raphael said to his brother. "Go out, get some fresh air. Leo's chomping at the bit, there have been too many attacks and too much movement by the Red Dragons, along with all of the other monsters that seem to have come crawling out of who knows where. Go kick some ass for me." He said smiling at his brother. He could feel his scars pull tightly on his face from smiling.

He felt the couch shift again as his brother stood. "If you're sure." His brother said, sounding unsure.

"Just go already Mikey. I'm fine." He said as he waved his brother off. He turned his attention to the TV. He could hear the sports announcer listing off the stats of the various sports games that had been played today. Not that Raphael cared but he pretended to be engrossed in what the sports caster had to say.

He heard his older brother come up behind him. He could tell it was him by the way he moved. He had learned a lot of things over the past year.

"I'm fine Leo, go play hero." He grumbled.

He could picture Leonardo giving a curt nod, realize that he couldn't see him and instead patted him on the shoulder. "We won't be gone too long."

"Yeah, yeah," He said waving his brother off.

He listened to the sounds of his brother's leaving the lair to go out on patrol. He waited awhile.

Finally he slowly stood dropping the phone his brother's had left him. He carefully made his way through the lair. He bashed his knees a few times but he finally made it to the training room. His brother's didn't realize his hearing had gotten much better over the past year. He was very aware of where they had put his sais. He felt along the far wall until he encountered the familiar texture and shape. He put one sai through his belt and held the other in his tightly clenched fist.

He slowly made his way carefully back to the couch.

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><p><strong>Leonardo<strong> watched as his brothers slowly made their way stealthily across the rooftop. The night had been quiet so far, but they had not strayed too far from the lair.

"I have a bad feeling about this Leo." Michelangelo said to him as he knelt down beside him.

"Raph said he would be fine." Leonardo said, but felt the same feeling of foreboding that his brother was expressing. The problem was that he had no reason to think that there was anything wrong.

"I know he said he would be fine, but that's what worries me." Michelangelo said to him.

"Mikey. It is possible that Raph has finally accepted his injuries and knows that he has to adapt to the way his life is now." Donatello said as he knelt beside Michelangelo.

Leonardo nodded but looked at his two brothers. It still felt wrong to be out on patrol without Raphael, but Raphael could never come with them again.

He studied Donatello. Donatello didn't look well, of course none of them did, but he was beginning to wonder if there was something more wrong with his brother than just simple grief.

"I know but…It's Raph, he doesn't accept anything." Michelangelo protested.

"Mikey, it's been over a year since…" Leonardo couldn't continue.

"You can say it Leo." Michelangelo grumbled. "Since Raph was so badly beaten we didn't think he was going to live. That he managed to mostly recover, but still has problems walking, sometimes just moving. I've seen him Leo, wincing in pain when he doesn't think we are close enough for us to see." Michelangelo said with a shake of his head. "Not to mention his scars. Everything hurts him Leo."

Leonardo closed his eyes in pained remembrance. He still blamed himself. He knew that it had been a trap, but he let Raphael storm off by himself while he and his other brothers had stealthily tried to take the Red Dragons by surprise by attacking them from the front. The Red Dragons had been caught by surprise, but by the time they had made their way to the other side of the warehouse to where Raphael had staged his little distraction, it had almost been too late. They had found their brother lying in a pool of his own blood. He had thought that he was dead, and when he had found out he wasn't, he had been so scared that he wasn't going to make it through the night, but he had, and when his brother had opened his sightless eyes, it had broken his heart to know that his broken brother was now 'useless' was the word Raphael had used to describe himself.

Raphael had raged and been angry. His moods had raged back and forth between anger to outright despair. They had taken away his weapons on the off chance he had decided to do something stupid, but Raphael had never once asked where his sais were.

The feeling of dread increased. Raphael had been unusually sanguine about them going out. Usually he raged and shut himself up in his room. But the last few times he had been more quiet and reserved. _So what was different about this time that made his skin crawl with worry?_

"It's not your fault Leo." Donatello said to him softly.

"Of course it's my fault Donny." He said lashing out at his brother. "All of it. It is all my fault!" He yelled.

"Leo..." Donatello began.

"I ripped him away from his soul mate Donny. I did that. If I had have just left him alone, even if everything played out the way it did, at least he would have been with her for another month." He shook his head as Donatello opened his mouth again. "She would still be alive if I hadn't interfered. Hell was looking for a pure soul, if she wasn't pure anymore, Hell wouldn't have wanted her, but she stayed pure because of Me. I was the one who got her killed, and he's never once blamed me for that. He's never blamed me for pulling him away from her, or for him almost dying and losing his sight. Never once." Leonardo managed to choke out. "Why didn't he blame me?" He asked his brother wretchedly.

Michelangelo lightly put his hand on his shoulder. "Because," Michelangelo said softly. "He has no room in his heart to blame anyone but himself." Michelangelo said sadly. "You can grieve for her Leo, you loved her too, you lost her too. It's not your fault. Even if she wasn't pure anymore Hell would have still wanted her because of what she was. Even without her purity, her soul was too powerful to give up. Michael should have known this, and Raph knows this. You can't blame yourself Leo."

He shook his head in denial.

"Leo, she was your soul mate too." Donatello said softly.

He looked at his brother in shock. "No she..." Donatello cut him off.

"Leo. She. Was. Your. Soul. Mate." Donatello said with irritation. "We all were, in as much as the concept of a soul mate could exist we were all hers."

Leonardo opened his mouth to dispute his brother but Donatello cut him off again. "There is no such things as soul mates Leo. There is no one perfect person out there for you, but if there could be, she was it. We all know it, we all know she was The One, and that exists, just as all of us were The Ones for her." He said with irritation.

"But..." Leonardo began.

Donatello cut him off again. "Darkness said that 'soul mate' was the closest word for what they had, but they are so much more than that. I still can't wrap my mind around what they had, but..." Donatello paused in thought, his eyes widening in horror. "We have to get back to the lair, now!" Donatello yelled as he suddenly stood up. He began to run.

"What is it Donny?" He asked in worry as he followed his younger brother.

"That's what Katherine was trying to tell me!" Donatello said in horror.

"What?" Leonardo said in shock as he darted after his younger brother.

"Katherine, she was trying to tell me something, but I just couldn't figure it out. I should have known. The look on his face. Damn it! It's been five years!"

Leonardo reached out and grabbed his younger brother's arm stopping him. "Donny what are you talking about?" He said spinning his younger brother to look at him. "Katherine's gone Donny." He said in desolate voice.

Donatello pulled his arm free of his grip. "I know that Leo." He said angrily. "It's been five years." He said desperately as he darted off again.

"It hasn't been five years Donny." Leonardo said just loudly enough to be heard as they ran. He knew. It had been exactly 4 years, 10 months 1 day, and 7 hours since they had failed to bring Katherine home alive from Hell. It had been 4 years, 10 months, 1 day, 6 hours and 55 minutes since April and Casey had tried to help them through their grief. 4 years, 10 months, 1 day and 6 hours since April had showed them the contents of the two backpacks that Darkness had given them to look after.

He remembered opening the bags and pulling out the carving of the rat protecting four baby turtles. He had nearly dropped the statue, luckily April had managed to steady his hands before he had. The other bag had contained the fan Katherine had given April for Christmas as well as the vase, and mug made by them and the girls for Katherine. Also the clay handprints made by Starlight and Starbright.

He hadn't known what emotion he had wanted to feel when looking at the contents of the bags. He had wanted to smash everything, destroy it all. He thought that if he could destroy it all he could destroy the memory of her. Wipe the love and grief for her from his heart, so he wouldn't hurt the way he had, the way he still did if he allowed himself. Time had tempered the grief, but it was still there, like an old pain that hadn't gotten any better, but rather, one he had gotten used to.

They had re-packed the items and put the bags in a closet along with Katherine's camera which Michelangelo had stolen. A week later a phone began ringing, the sound coming from the closet.

Donatello had answered the phone, it had been Katherine's. On the other line was Katherine's father. He had sadly informed them that Katherine had been killed on her way home from the airport. She had been killed in a devastating head on car accident. The other driver had walked away without a scratch. They had assumed that was Darkness' handiwork, giving her parents closure.

Her parents had gone through her possessions and had realized that her phone and camera were missing, along with her jacket. He and his brothers had all been so buried within the depths of their own grief that they hadn't even known what to say to Katherine's grieving father. They had offered to send the phone and camera through the mail the next day. Donatello had taken the memory chip and downloaded all of Katherine's pictures onto his hard drive. He then deleted any photos of themselves, and got April to ship the phone and camera out the next day. After that they had unpacked the backpacks and left the items scattered around the lair, because Katherine had cared enough to pack them in the first place.

"That's my point." Donatello said interrupting his thoughts. "Darkness said that our world echoed with the events that happened in their world."

"So?" He questioned.

"So, Goddess died on their world, and their Raph was killed 5 years after Goddess died." Donatello said to him as they leapt off the building and hit the street below.

"But their Raph was murdered. Are you saying that Raph is in danger?" He asked as he began to run through the darkened alleyways faster.

"Only from himself." Donatello grumbled.

"But Donny, that makes no sense. Katherine hasn't been gone for five years. Raph's been blind for over a year, why now, why would he take his own life _now_?" He asked his brother desperately.

"It's been five years to the day that he let her go. Five years to the day that he flippantly promised her that he would protect her and didn't. It's the day after Halloween." Donatello looked over his shoulder at him. "Leo, he probably figures that his other self suffered for five years without her and that is all he is going to live through." He said wretchedly.

"Donny…" His brother was already shaking his head.

"No Leo you don't understand, even I don't fully understand, but you have no idea how much her loss hurt him. Still hurts him. He was so much more than her soul mate Leo." Donatello said as he skirted past a dumpster.

"I don't even know what that means." Leonardo said in frustration. "And other _Leonardo_ was Goddess' soul mate; he managed to survive her death. He didn't become suicidal." Leonardo told his brother.

Donatello growled in frustration. "Other _Leonardo_ had something to live _for_. The other _Raphael_ left, _Leonardo_ had no choice but try to keep what was left of his family together because he was the oldest, he was the leader. Raph could live without her, he could be happy again one day, but gave up living the day she died, because he doesn't think he has anything to live _for_." He ground out. "Think back Leo, to that night. I felt the chains then, the binding she had placed on my heart and soul, I felt them snap when we re-entered our world. I only felt it for a moment before I died, but…I felt Raph. Sometimes I still feel him, the echo of his grief, and it is staggering. Remember back to Raph that night."

Leonardo had been grief-stricken and overwhelmed, but he tried to think back. His attention had been focused more on Donatello but then he remembered Raphael kneeling in the snow and then falling as if he too had died at that moment. He remembered his brother barely being able to crawl to Donatello's side.

"Katherine was trying to warn me, trying to tell me what was going on." Donatello said with frustration.

"Donny!" He growled.

"She's in my dreams Leo. Every night I dream of her." Donatello said as they rounded a corner.

"Every night?" Michelangelo asked in shock.

"Every night." Donatello confirmed. "I talk to her every night, but tonight, everything was different, and the dream turned into a nightmare." He shook his head.

"Our grief will get better, has gotten better. Even if we will never be able to love another woman, even if one could love us, for him, time will never temper his grief, ever. Couple that with Raph's loss of sight, broken body and his failure in keeping his promise to himself, his oath to the woman he loved, and wrap it into one giant ball of self pity and self hatred. He existed for her for almost 5 years and now he is done."

"But we can't know that for sure Donny." Michelangelo said softly. "Raph has never been the honourable type like Leo over here. I just can't picture Raph trying to end it all."

"We all failed her Donny, and that is a failure we are all going to have to live with for the rest of our lives." Leonardo said angrily, but then paused in thought. "Do you think he wants revenge like the other Raphael?" He finally asked.

"I don't think so Leo." Donatello said with a shake of his head. "Raphael might want revenge, but I don't think his heart is in it. I think he just wants the pain to stop."

"But killing himself won't stop the pain. He'll just end up in some Underworld with all of the pain still right there." Leonardo said to his brother.

"Not if he manages to find a god who will Destroy his soul, like what Darkness did to Katherine's." He said miserably.

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><p><strong>Does anyone have any guesses as to what is going to happen? Do you think Katherine will make it back, will she still be sane?<strong>

**Thoughts or opinions are always welcome!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you to forgottenforever for your awesome review, and I hope everyone enjoys the angstyness(probably not a word) of this next chapter**

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><p><strong><span>Chapter 3<span>**

**Raphael** sat on the couch and felt the sharp tip of his sai. He twirled his weapon around using different grips. It felt nice to have it back in his hand again, like an old friend coming home. Even though he couldn't see anymore, he could still imagine what his weapon looked like in his hand.

But at the moment he was trying not to imagine what his brother's were going to come home to find. He knew Michelangelo would be hurt the most; Leonardo would feel betrayed since he was about to do what he had told his older brother not to; And Donatello, he didn't know how Donatello would feel, probably confused and helpless. Donatello would try to understand _why?_ He knew his counterpart had trained and lived, so that when he did die he would be ready to seek revenge against Michael, and when that didn't pan out, revenge against the gods who had supposedly Destroyed Goddess' soul. But for him, he didn't seek revenge, he didn't seek release. He didn't have a great master plan. He knew that it wasn't all going to end. All the grief and the regret and the guilt and the sorrow would still be there, but he knew that there was oblivion out there somewhere.

His sightless eyes looked upon his sai. He was tired of pretending. He was so very tired. He had given an Oscar worthy performance for nearly 5 years and he was done. At first he had thought to follow Katherine the moment they had arrived back in the lair, but death was too easy. He knew she wasn't going to be waiting for him on the other side. She was gone. Forever gone. It was then he remembered his counterpart and how he had lived for 5 years after Goddess' death. That had been his benchmark. He figured he deserved to suffer, to be punished. This was his living Hell for having failed her. For leaving her to be tortured in Hell because when they ran, he didn't protect her. Because he promised her to protect her from every nasty bad thing that was out to get her; swore to himself that he would bring her home alive, or die trying, and failed. He had needed to pay for his failure.

He had fought to stay alive after he had nearly been beaten to death because he knew he still had to suffer, that it wasn't time yet. His blindness and broken body had only added to his punishment. But he had to put on an act for his brothers so they wouldn't figure out what his plan was. He had ranted and raged, acted angry, acted hopeless all the while knowing that eventually the day would come when he would cease to suffer. His self imposed punishment would finally end.

He now would do the honourable thing. He had never understood Leonardo's idea of honour, but now he did. He was taking a page from Leonardo's book. He was going to pay with his life for not protecting Her, and he was going to ease his brother's burden. They should have to deal with looking after him for the rest of their lives. They wouldn't be able to move on if they constantly had to watch out and look after their broken, useless brother.

He placed the tip of his sai above his plastron. He knew he would have to strike straight down to reach his heart. His shaking hands attempted to steady his weapon.

"And to think I would never have pegged you for the suicidal type." A husky voice said to him.

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><p><strong>She<strong> looked at Death who stood in front of her. She frowned. She did not, in general interact with Death. Their paths just did not cross, so his presence here confused her. She sat up from where she had been lounging on her dark wooden, living throne.

"Can I help you?" She asked him. It wasn't as if she didn't know who Death was, she was quite familiar with Death, but this wasn't the Death that she had always known. She supposed they were the same, yet different. From this version of Death she got the feeling that he was waiting for something.

Death pulled a life glass from beneath his robes. The glass was nearly empty, not that she cared for such things. Time was a mortal construct. She knew Time existed and knew that it even acted upon her, but it was not something she thought about. She was a timeless being, she would remain infinite. Even when she ceased to enact any influence over the world, she would still exist, even if she was just a voice that whispered tales into the ears of mortals.

Presently however, she had existed within her present form for over 2 thousand years. She was one of the most powerful gods on this world, and intended to keep growing in power.

She ruffled her wings as she looked upon the Life Glass offered up by Death. She frowned as she read the name. She stood and took the glass. Death let her take it. She paused slightly as she wondered why Death was not only letting her take the glass, but why he had offered it in the first place.

She shifted into the mortal realm. She had not been present on the mortal plain for over 2 thousand years, but time did not move at the same rate where she had been. It had been moving rather slowly if the creature in front of her was still alive. Or rather, her eyes studied the glass, would be alive at least for a few more moments.

"And to think I would never have pegged you for the suicidal type." Her husky voice said to him. She frowned. She hadn't even realized she had intended to speak until she had. She knew this creature and yet she didn't. He was a double of one of Darkness' Consorts, but she knew nothing about him, so where had her observation come from?

The creature smiled at her. He turned his head in the direction of her voice, but didn't seem to be able to see her. Not that this surprised her. She stared at his sightless eyes. She tipped her head to the side in thought.

"I won't listen to you you know." He said softly. "But I suppose it is nice to hear your voice again, even though I know it's just in my head." He whispered softly."It's funny, because I can even smell your scent. It took me a long time, but I finally found out what the smell was. You always smelled like heather, white heather." He continued.

She frowned and smelled herself. She didn't smell like heather, she smelled like Evening Star which only bloomed at night. She paused and smelled herself. Her normal scent was definitely being subverted by another flowery smell.

She bared her fangs in a grimace as she flicked her tail in irritation.

"I'm not suicidal." The creature continued. "I am finally paying the price for my failure, there's a difference." He said in a shaky voice. He closed his eyes in anguish. "I am so sorry. I miss you so much it hurts. I feel like I am drowning and I can't breathe." He choked out. "I failed you in ways I can't even…I shouldn't have let you go. I shouldn't have been such a coward. I should have told you I loved you the day after Halloween, but I didn't. If I had told you then I know things would have been different. I know you would have stayed. The moment you went to that house your Fate was sealed." He shook his head.

"You could only have changed the events that happened. You could not have changed the final outcome." She whispered softly. She clamped her mouth shut after her words. She looked at the glass. A few minutes that was all that was left, at the most.

"Don't you think I don't know that?" He said angrily. "I know. I know I couldn't protect you from the angels and the demons, from Satan himself, but I should have died trying. You were always saving us, we should have been able to save you, just once." He choked out. "I don't even know what the demons did to you. I don't know how they tortured you, and I don't even know how long you managed to survive your torture before you finally died. Was it minutes, hours, days, weeks?" He asked. "I know time is all messed up there."

She looked at the marks that covered her body. She had never really thought about how all of the scars had gotten there, she had just accepted that they were there. She had never really cared. She was just glad she had a body at all. She closed her hand that was encased within a clawed silver gauntlet. But someone was interfering. This would not do.

"What of your brothers?" She found herself asking.

He seemed to hesitate. "Leo will understand. He won't like it, but he will understand. Mikey and Donny will be pissed, but, they will survive without me. I made sure that Leo and Mikey are okay. They still suffer, will probably suffer your loss for the rest of their lives, but they might even be able to move on one day. That is my hope for them, that they will find someone, not to replace you, but to at least fill the hole in their hearts. But Donny," He shook his head. "Donny is in the same boat as I am. He knows what it feels like to be connected to someone, in body, heart and soul, and he will never be able to fill that hole." He said sadly. "But Donny has his hobbies, he'll manage without me. He may even benefit from me being gone. He won't have the damn constant echo of my unending grief constantly flowing over him." The creature tightened his grip on his weapon that was placed above his heart. She looked at the angle. He wouldn't die instantly, but he would bleed to death.

"No." She said to him.

"Goodbye Katherine." He said to her. "I love you, and...I'm sorry." He said with regret.

"No!" She shouted, but he plunged his weapon through his flesh into his heart.

His hands fell from his weapon as he slumped to the floor. She knelt down and rolled him onto his back as she watched him begin to bleed out. She looked at the Life Glass as the last little bits of sand began funnelling their way to the bottom. She needed to save him. _No, why?_ She asked herself.

She looked at the door that burst open, the creature's siblings piling into the room. She slowly stood and looked at them. She could have vanished, could have made it so that they could not see her, and yet she didn't. She nearly let a growl of frustration leave her lips, but she didn't_. _

The blue one's eyes slid from her to his fallen brother. "Raph." He managed to choke out. "Who the hell are you, get away from him!" He yelled as she stepped out of the way. Her cape was pulled tightly around her, her hood obscuring her face and hair.

She looked at the fallen creature as his siblings crowded around trying to figure out a way to save him._ Didn't they see he was dying and there wasn't anything that they could do?_

"He's dying." She said softly. "You need to let me..." But she looked at the life glass which was now empty, he was dead. Her heart stopped. It literally stopped. Her eyes widened in shock. Her heart began to beat again, but her heart felt sore, not physically sore, but emotionally sore.

A thought came to her then. She looked at the fallen creature.

"He's dead." Her muffled voice came from within her hood. She pulled out the Life Glass and showed them.

"So you are this Earth's Death?" The blue one asked as he held his limp brother's body. "Why can I see you?" He managed to choke out.

"I am not Death." She heard herself say. She looked at the dead creature and wondered where Death was, and if not Death himself, then at least a Reaper.

She gave herself a mental shrug. It worked better for her this way, she had a little bit of time.

"If you wish, I can save him." She told him gently.

The orange one looked at her numbly, tears streaming silently down his cheeks, his shoulders sagging in defeat. Her heart clenched.

"You can't save him." The purple one said as he felt for a pulse and found nothing.

She smiled slightly. "Well I can't save him per-say. But I can bring him back, for a price." She said warningly. The blue one looked at her with narrowed eyes. "Of course this is a limited time offer. I would estimate you have about 8 minutes left to decide before it is even out of my hands."

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" The blue one growled.

She looked at him from beneath her hood. "I have so many names." She said seriously. "But is who or what I am really important?" She tapped her wrist. "Tick, tock."

The blue one clenched his teeth together in anger as hope warred with suspicion.

"Do it." The orange one said.

Blue and purple looked at him in shock. "Mikey?" The blue one asked him.

"We didn't know Leo." He said softly. "We should have known, but we didn't know that Raph was…was to this point. That this was his plan all along." He said voice breaking with emotion. "I miss her so much sometimes that it hurts, but…what has Raph suffered? Donny knows a little, but we thought we were all suffering the same. She's gone Leo, and Raph blames himself. We all blame ourselves, but if he has a second chance, maybe he'll see, understand that Katherine wouldn't have wanted him to go out this way. She wouldn't want him to just exist, she would have wanted him to live every single day for her, because of her."

The blue one looked at her. "What is the price?" He growled out to her.

"Nothing too terribly important." She said as she shrugged negligently. "There is always a price for everything. In this case, I want the darkness that resides within his eyes." She said pointing to the fallen creature.

"You want what?" He asked in confusion.

"You heard correctly." She said. "I believe we are down to 3 minutes."

The blue one hesitated. Not that she blamed him. She would not make any deal where she did not know the full consequences of her actions. Of course she was used to dealing with gods and spirits, and they tended to be tricky and underhanded at times.

"What is your brother's life worth to you?" She asked.

Blue glared at her. "I would give my own life for his."

"Hmm tempting, but I have so many servants and have no use for a mortal life." She said with regret.

"Fine." The purple one ground out. "His life for…the darkness that resides within his eyes."

She smiled as she pulled a sword from its sheath. It pulsed in her hands. She twirled the blade. "I would move if I were you." She said as Blue watched her suspiciously. Purple pulled blue away from the bloody corpse of their fallen brother.

"It is amusing." She said suddenly as she plunged the blue tinged sword through the body of the creature, pinning his soul to his body. She knelt down and looked at the beauty of the spilt blood. Her teeth tingled. But the blood was cold and dead. She liked her blood warm and alive. She pulled his weapon from his heart and placed it gently on the ground. "I believe that someone once told you never to make a deal with a creature such as myself, because it never ends well." She said as she pulled off her gauntlets. She had to pay a price as well. She grabbed the exposed part of the blade cutting herself deeply. She then placed her pale hands on the creature's chest. Out of the corner of her eye she could see them pale. She began gently healing his broken body.

"S…Satan." The purple one said in horror.

She felt herself chuckle. "I prefer The Devil." She said as she pushed power into the body of the creature. She could hear weapons being drawn. "I call you back Raphael." She took a deep breath. "Resurrection!" She yelled as she bound his soul back to his body bringing him back to life.

The creature on the floor gasped. His sightless eyes flying open in shock. Whatever the creatures had planned, all thoughts of following through with those actions left them as they raced to help the creature on the ground. She deftly pulled the sword from his body and stood back.

The creature groaned. His teeth clenched tightly together as he adjusted to breathing and living again. She tipped her head to the side as she watched the blue one clutch at the fallen one.

"Raphael!" The blue one yelled at him.

His brother did not answer him back.

"It will take him a while to adjust to living again." She said softly. It had been hard binding his soul back into his body. His soul had felt...incomplete, she supposed the right word would be. Even though it was completely whole there was something wrong with it, and it hadn't wanted to go back.

"Now." She tipped her head to the side and smiled, not that they could see the smile. "I believe we had a deal." She purred.

The purple and orange ones stood in front of their brother protectively. "We aren't going to let you hurt him." The orange one said angrily.

"Who said it would hurt?" She asked. "And believe it or not, I actually believe this will work out better for you." SHe said with a smile, she then became serious. "He has something I need, and a deal is a deal. If you break the deal, I will kill him." She said viciously. Her gauntlets appeared back on her hands. "Now please step aside." She ordered. She could see their obvious reluctance.

She moved faster than any of them could see. She knelt in front of him and began to pull the darkness from his eyes. He began to whimper. It took a moment for his brothers to realize that she had already moved and was now taking her payment.

"You're hurting him!" Purple yelled.

"You said it wouldn't hurt." Orange accused.

"I said no such thing. But it didn't. However, it was not a comfortable feeling. " She said as she took what she needed and stood.

He finally stopped whimpering. She had turned her back to them but found herself frowning as her heart clenched in worry. She shook herself and looked at the ball of darkness in her hand. Darkness resided everywhere, but his eyes had glimpsed actual Darkness, and they remembered Her.

She squashed the ball flat and pulled it. She made it bigger, wider and flatter. She made it wide enough for her to walk through, like an oval mirror. She walked through the darkness.

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><p><strong>Thoughts opinions, is everyone enjoying?<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you to forgotten forever for your review! **

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><p><span>Chapter 4<span>

**Darkness** groaned as she opened her eyes in irritation. She had been enjoying her rest and now something was poking around at the edge of her defences.

"Darkness!" Donatello said in worry as he stormed into her bedchamber. She lay on her stomach partially wrapped in the arms of two men. The man to her right groaned in irritation. The one to her left opened his blue eyes and looked at Donatello in worry.

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><p><strong>Donatello<strong> stopped in shock as he looked at her. His face became irritated. "Lucifer cover yourself up damn it. I don't need to be looking at your lily white ass."

Lucifer looked at his ass and frowned. "I will inform you that my ass is not lily white. That description is more apt for Kaethryn's lovely ass." He said while rubbing a soft hand over her ass and down her leg. "My ass is a beautiful olive tone." He said with an affronted sniff.

"I really don't care what colour it is." Donatello growled. Lucifer wrapped himself in the black satin sheets and lay on his belly facing Donatello his wings softly brushing Darkness' stomach.

"You could join us you know." Lucifer said motioning to the bed where his wife was still partially wrapped in Gabriel's arms.

He paused but finally answered. "Just because you are her lover doesn't mean I want to, or have to join in." Donatello said with mild irritation. He couldn't be too irritated, after all, he was the one who had suggested that Darkness be allowed to take them as her lovers.

_"What?" Raphael had shouted in shock and looked utterly appalled. "Donny do you hear yourself? Did a minor god bash you too hard in the head?" He had asked. It had been 12 years after they had failed to save Katherine and even though he knew they had tried and even though he knew that they couldn't have done anything differently, he still felt heartsick._

_"She loves them Raph." He had said quietly._

_He remembered that Michelangelo had been shocked into silence and Leonardo was looking at him grimly._

_They were still adjusting to what they were now. Darkness had told them that they weren't gods of gods like they had thought. They were gods for the gods. Darkness had explained to them that if gods were just ordinary people, they were now the King (Raphael) The Prince (Michelangelo), The General (Leonardo) and the Magician (himself). They did not exist above the other gods, but they guided and helped the other gods. But unlike how things worked on the mortal world, the gods would not know who or what they really were. Lucifer and Gabriel knew, but that was because Darkness let them know._

_"So what, we can't share her with everyone she loves Donny." Raphael had ground out. "It's bad enough that we have to share her between all of us, and now you want us to share her with two other guys, are you crazy?"_

_Donatello had sighed. Now that he was a god of Fate, he could see things. Some things were still hidden from him, but some things weren't. Raphael couldn't see the big picture, but he could._

_"Raph, she has loved them for what, nine thousand years!" He said with a shake of his head. "Can you even imagine loving someone for that long and never being able to complete that love? They gave up the chance to go back to Heaven for her, knowing that she would never be with them." He said to him._

_Raphael had shaken his head in anger._

_"Why are you suggesting this Donny?" Leonardo had asked him. Leonardo knew he was trying to get at something and he was patiently waiting for him to get to the point._

_"Darkness…loves them, but she isn't acting on that love because of us." He said softly._

_"That's the way it works Donny. She chose us, not him, not them." Raphael had growled._

_"But that is the point. She chose us." He insisted willing them to understand._

_"Goddess said a long time ago that her love for them was like a dream, one that could never be dreamt again." Michelangelo had put in._

_"Because she chose us over them." He told them again._

_"Donny just spit it out." Leonardo said in irritation._

_"Darkness doesn't think like we do." He began softly. "She can love, truly love, more than one person at a time. She doesn't have a limit._

_"We know Donny." Raphael said angrily his eyes narrowed. "So?"_

_He sighed. "How long do you think it will be before we stray?" He asked them._

_Their jaws dropped in shock. "What?" Raphael asked in horror._

_"How long?" He asked them._

_"Donny!" Michelangelo said in shock._

_"We've been married 18 years, but we can't even grasp the idea of eternity." Donatello said. "Trying to even comprehend that length of time…" He shook his head. "You don't hear about too many gods who stay faithful."_

_"Donny. I love Darkness with every fibre of my being. I would never hurt her like that. I would never betray her, and she would never betray us." Raphael said insistently._

_"I know Raph, you say that now, but a thousand years from now. I'm not saying you won't still love her, but…"_

_Donatello looked at them and tried another tract of reasoning. "I know you haven't noticed, but it is breaking her heart not being able to be with them."_

_"So what, we aren't enough for her?" Raphael growled._

_"No." Donatello said shaking his head. "It isn't about that. It is about love, pure and simple. She has already given them her heart and soul, but she cannot give them her body because of us. We are denying her the ability to love them the way she wants to love them because we are caught up with the mortal idea of…only being able to be with one person. Even though we four share her, we still are thinking like we four are really just one…set, if you will."_

_"I'm sorry Donny, I get what you are saying but I don't understand." Leonardo said in frustration._

_"She will fall into the dark if we don't do this." He said softly._

_His brothers paled. "What do you mean Donny?" Leonardo asked carefully._

_He couldn't tell his brothers what he had seen, who he had glimpsed. But he knew that besides this, Darkness' heart was hurting. And it was only going to get worse if what he glimpsed came to pass, which he knew it would. "Just trust me on this one." He finished softly._

_"So we gotta share her, with two other guys." Raphael growled at him. "Because we are hurting her and if we don't we will lose her."_

_"Actually three." Donatello said with a cough. "You forgot about Death."_

_They blinked at him in shock. Leonardo clutched the bridge of his beak in irritation. " Donny. You are asking too much of us." He said finally._

_Not that he blamed Leonardo one bit. He was technically Darkness' soul mate and he already had to share her with his three brothers. That was already a tough thing for him. To share her with another three men was hard even for him to wrap his mind around. "I'm not asking and neither is Darkness." He said softly. "But," Donatello shrugged. "She loves them Leo. It isn't as if they are just random guys. And she doesn't love us any less. She probably loves us just that little bit more. And I know you and her are so much more than just soul mates Leo, but I swore to myself that I would do anything to have her in my life. I was already willing to share her with my brothers. If that means I have to share her with three other guys then I'm fine with that." He said in a steely voice._

_He could see the wheels turning in his brother's heads._

_Michelangelo frowned but gave a curt nod of agreement. Raphael and Leonardo both wore the same expressions of jealous anger mixed with resignation. "I need to go hit something." Raphael said. "So what now, we go confront Darkness?"_

_Donatello shook his head. "We talk to Lucifer and Gabriel."_

_Raphael paused. "Can I hit him?" He asked as he cracked his knuckles aggressively. 'There are probably some ground rules that need to be established."_

_Leonardo's shoulders tensed in irritation but he could see the capitulation in his shoulders, because Leonardo couldn't lose her, none of them could._

_The expression on Lucifer and Gabriel's faces had been priceless._

_They had arrived in Lucifer's private chambers. Gabriel and Lucifer were both engaged in a game of chess. They had stood quickly, worry instantly apparent on both men's faces._

_Donatello knew then that they were making the right decision. Raphael had angrily marched up to Lucifer and had punched him in the jaw as hard as he could. Lucifer had gone flying hitting the stone wall behind him with crushing force._

_Raphael had grinned. On Earth Lucifer was a big gun, he had a lot of power, but in comparison to the gods on T'lae-ran, his power was really just a drop in the bucket, compared to their power, a drop in the ocean._

_Lucifer pulled himself angrily from the rubble and rubbed his jaw. "And to what do I owe the pleasure?" He ground out._

_"Well I did say I was going to hit you when we got back. I know it's been a while but figured this was as good a time as any." Raphael sneered at him._

_Lucifer worked his jaw. "Better late than never, I suppose." He said as he stood. "Now if you don't mind we were busy, please leave." He said rather politely._

_Raphael grinned maliciously. "Oh I'm just getting started. That was for calling my wife 'your love' so often over there in Heaven." Raphael stalked up to Lucifer, grabbed him by the lapels of his fine blue Italian suit, and hit him hard in the face, letting him fall to the ground dazed at his feet. "And that is for sleeping with my wife." Raphael ground out in jealous anger. Raphael's fists had begun to flame. Donatello knew Raphael was the Leader of their pantheon, but he was also very much a sun god._

_Luckily for Lucifer that was the one thing he was impervious to. He looked at Leonardo whose tightly clenched fists were beginning to form ice._

_He hadn't understood at first why Raphael was the leader and Leonardo had been relegated to the Underworld. It had taken a while for him to figure out that Leonardo now reflected what Darkness was. Leonardo could now touch Darkness when she **was** Darkness. Also, being a god of the Underworld was a much more difficult job since Leonardo would eventually have to deal with the souls of dead gods. But that would be in the future, right now, things were mostly still the same. All the pieces of the puzzle were not in place yet. He knew that for a fact._

_Lucifer wiped the blood from his mouth. "Believe me. I only wish I could be accused of such a thing. Unfortunately for me, Kaethryn would never betray you." He slowly stood. "Now if you are done."_

_"Oh I'm not finished yet." Raphael growled. "I know Darkness would never betray me, betray us." He growled._

_Lucifer frowned in confusion. "I'm sorry, I'm confused." Lucifer said as he dabbed at his broken lip with a handkerchief. "I did not have sex with Kaethryn, yet you are accusing me of doing so even though you know and I know Kaethryn would never betray you. Have I missed something?"_

_"No, I think you have it about right. And let's not forget Gabriel." Raphael said stomping up to the golden haired Fallen._

_Gabriel's jaw hung open in shock. "I never had sex with Kaethryn" He said vehemently shaking his head._

_"I know. And I like you Gabriel so I'm not going to hit you." Raphael said squeezing Gabriel's shoulder hard enough that he winced in pain._

_"I'm just laying the ground rules for when you do." Raphael said getting in Gabriel's face._

_Raphael let his shoulder go and stepped away letting Donatello talk. "We haven't talked to Darkness yet. We thought we would talk to you first." Donatello began as Gabriel walked over and stood next to Lucifer. They both wore expressions of confusion and worry. They probably thought they had all gone insane, which they probably had. "Darkness loves you, both of you, and I am tired of seeing her hurt. So here is the deal, you can sleep with her, but only if she wants to, and you both have to remember that we are her husbands not you, got it." He managed to growl out._

_Lucifer and Gabriel looked at each other and looked at them in shock. Lucifer cleaned his ears out. "I'm sorry, what?" He asked in confusion. "Did you just give us permission to sleep with your wife?"_

_"Yes we did." Michelangelo said curtly. "But it is up to Darkness." Michelangelo said._

_"And we don't like it." Raphael growled. "But we will accept it if it will make Darkness happy."_

_"And by sleep you mean…?"Lucifer asked hope warring with suspicion and confusion._

_"You can have sex with her; make love to her, whatever you want to call it." Raphael ground out._

_Lucifer fell where he stood. He sat on the ground unseeing. Donatello looked at his brothers in shock._

_"I think I need to…I just…" Lucifer tried to form a coherent sentence but couldn't. Lucifer looked at them then shook his head smiling viciously. "You are too cruel." He said trying to stand._

_"We aren't lying to you Lucifer." Donatello said shaking his head. "Believe me it isn't something we would ever joke about."_

_"Yeah, and you aren't the only two the invitation is being given to." Raphael growled._

_"Who?" Gabriel asked._

_"Death." Leonardo said crossing his arms over his chest._

_Lucifer blinked in shock. "But…" He frowned. "Ah, he would take his previous form" Lucifer said with a nod._

_"Wait, what?" Raphael asked in surprise. "What form?"_

_"Death has many different forms, just because he always appears as a 6 foot walking skeleton doesn't mean that that is the only form he can appear in. He isn't just called an angel of death for nothing. I seem to recall that that particular form is very pretty." Lucifer said with a nod._

_Gabriel frowned. "I don't understand. You are letting Kaethryn be with everyone she loves? But…"_

_"We swore that we would do anything to have Goddess back. If that means sharing her with a few extra people then fine. We don't like it, but we will accept it because we know she loves you two, and Death." Michelangelo said._

_"I would like to see you try to explain to Kaethryn this particular idea." Lucifer observed._

_"Yeah that one is going to be tricky because she won't think we will be able to handle it." Michelangelo said to them._

_They all shrugged. They would just have to convince her otherwise._

_"And what about the beautiful yet terrifying Light, and Azazel?" Lucifer asked as he managed to get to his feet._

_"We don't know enough about Darkness' feelings for Light." Donatello began. He believed that Darkness and Light's relationship was one they couldn't even begin to fathom._

_"At the rate things are going I would be up for having another chick around." Michelangelo said with a shake of his head._

_Donatello looked at his brother. "Yes, but I don't think Light would be interested. I think she has eyes only for Darkness."_

_Michelangelo shrugged. "Whatever, I would watch." He said with a smile._

_Donatello shook his head but grinned. "As for Azazel, Darkness likes him well enough and he loves her, but it isn't romantic love. He literally worships her. I believe Azazel is content to just be in her presence."_

_Lucifer nodded but looked at them seriously. "Are you sure you wish this?" He asked._

_Donatello frowned. He thought that Lucifer would be halfway out the door already. But he was really making sure that they were okay with what they were offering._

_"We don't want it Lucifer, but we will offer it anyway." Raphael said crossing his own arms over his chest._

_Lucifer nodded slowly as if trying to figure out the hitch. Not that he blamed him._

_"Darkness would hate us if we ever did anything to hurt you Lucifer." Donatello said softly._

This brought him back to why he was staring at Lucifer's ass. He didn't know if Darkness had consummated her relationship with Death yet, and he wasn't going to ask. All he knew was that if she had, they hadn't done it here.

"I am very well aware of our intruder Donatello." Darkness said as she broke away from Gabriel's embrace. She held out her arms to him. "We have some time yet. Make love to me Donatello, or have sex with me, whatever it is you wish." She said holding out her arms in invitation.

He looked at the two Fallen who were still lounging in her bed. Darkness hadn't kicked them out so they were staying. Donatello couldn't say no. He wished he could, but he could not resist her. He also knew there was a hidden question beneath her words. It had been a little over 2 years since Lucifer and Gabriel had started sharing her bed, and although they had adjusted somewhat, it was still an uncomfortable subject.

_If you are truly okay with this then why does everyone act as if it is not happening?_ Darkness asked him silently.

_Because. _He answered. _They must all deal with it in their own way, which is basically ignoring the problem. I can see how happy you are now._ He thought to her.

_I was happy before just having you, but I am more complete and at ease with what must come_. She said to him.

He nodded. Then paused in thought. _You let me see_. He thought in shock. _You blocked everything. I thought it was an accident, but you left one tiny clue for me to see._ He accused.

_I did_. She acknowledged.

_Why?_ He wondered.

_Because I wished to know what you would do with the information. It would either make us stronger or break us._

He sighed. He was never going to understand how her mind worked. Just when he thought he had her figured out, she would do something unexpected. He looked at her. He loved her, and he knew in his heart that he would never stray. She would keep amazing him throughout eternity, because she was the love of his life, and afterlife. It was then he realized something. Darkness always said she didn't know what was going to happen, that she didn't know and she couldn't control anything, and Donatello realized that as much as she knew, as much as she could calculate probable outcomes and be correct almost 100 % of the time, she still didn't actually _know _what was going to happen.

Lucifer and Gabriel watched their silent interchange. _Prove to me that you are okay with this Donatello_. She said to him silently.

"I will never understand how blue ended up your soul mate Kaethryn. I should have chosen purple for you I think." Lucifer said thoughtfully.

Lucifer was more polite, more sincerely polite and always watched them with wariness, as if he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Lucifer and Gabriel knew as well as they did that if they told Darkness at any time to stop seeing them, she would, in a heartbeat, because it would make them happy.

Donatello had harboured a secret hope that Lucifer, after chasing and pining for her for so many millennia, would, now that he had her, not want her. But so far it didn't appear to be case.

"Leonardo is mine and I am his. His soul rings for me, but this does not mean he understands me all of the time, because what we have is so much...more than simple thoughts or simple understanding or knowing. It just is." She said as she continued to hold her arms out for him.

Donatello shook his head. He never imagined that his sex life would consist, more often than not, of more than one person either watching or participating. He let his kimono fall to the ground as he walked naked over to the bed.

Lucifer looked him over curiously. His eyes roved over his scars, his muscles, his flesh, his shell, and finally stopped at his cock, which was already hard and aching for his wife.

"They don't get to touch me." He growled as he claimed his wife's mouth in a searing kiss.

He had gotten used to having more than one guy in bed with him and his wife, but with his brothers there was nothing but brotherly feelings towards each other. They just tried not to get in each other's way. But here there was no such barrier.

'Wait a few millennia, you never know." Lucifer said with a chuckle. Lucifer lay back on the sheets and looked at Darkness, his eyes glittering with desire. "I think I can see why you wished for him." He said softly. "And if he is anything like the other brothers, I can see why you desired the set."

"I don't need a running commentary Lucifer, so if you are going to stay, shut it." He said glaring over at him.

Lucifer smiled and shrugged. He looked over at Lucifer. His eyes roved over Lucifer's flesh in idle curiosity. Darkness had never had a problem with their bodies not being human, and he wondered now that she had two, possibly three lovers who were human, if she had a preference. Then he remembered that Michelangelo could take human form and although she had given Michelangelo the choice, she still seemed to prefer him when he was in his turtle form, not his human one. He turned his attention back to Darkness who was watching him with a raised brow. "Hard, fast and bloody." He said to her finally.

She chuckled as she bit him hard in the neck, not even tempering the pain with any pleasure. Her nails dug into the flesh of his arms as he roughly pinned her to the bed slamming himself into her over and over at a furious pace. He forgot all about his audience, his focus narrowing to the pinpoint awareness of just him and her. He had finally been able to share her with Michelangelo and Raphael, but it had been awhile since he was just able to take that dark part of his lust and let it loose.

He let out a scream of pleasure as he bit her shoulder hard enough to draw blood. He tasted the blood in his mouth and liked it. He shocked himself at his violence. He released his grip on her wrists as he looked down at her, almost ashamed. He had never made her bleed. He was always the one who bled, never her. Darkness looked at him. Her blood mixed with his. She bled from where he had bit her, but also where his own nails had raked themselves down her skin. Her eyes briefly flashed gold. His shoulders relaxed as he realized that is was his suppressed beast and not he that had enjoyed the taste of blood. She pulled him down for a tender kiss, a forgiving kiss. He knew Darkness didn't get off on pain, but she hadn't seemed to mind what he had done.

"I would suggest, that unless you want to witness me having sex with your wife, you had best leave." Lucifer growled. "Your performance was rather…stirring." He said seriously.

Lucifer and Gabriel did not seem bothered by all of the blood. His wounds were rapidly healing. He looked down at t his wife because it was her decision, not his.

"Do as you wish Donatello. If you wish to stay, stay, if you wish to alert your brothers that we will soon be having company, do so." She said gently.

He nodded. His brothers needed to be prepared for whatever was trying to break through the barriers Darkness had around the Castle. Though she didn't seem worried, he was a little concerned as he could not see who or what it was. He looked down at himself. He was completely covered in his own blood. It had been a long time since Darkness had cut him up so much, or so deep. He supposed he had asked for it though.

He crawled off the bed and went to clean up. He figured he had time enough if Darkness was going to go at it with both Lucifer and Gabriel.

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><p><strong>Darkness<strong> looked at the two men curled up in her bed. She looked around the room. There was blood everywhere. The mirror was covered in blood, the bed the floor the walls, even the ceiling. At the moment she was preventing Castellum from soaking up the blood. He could have it in a bit, but right now, she surveyed her handiwork, she needed it.

She had had Donatello and Gabriel and Lucifer, but her arms craved to hold another man. She pushed more power into the barrier around the Castle delaying her intruder. At her thought Death appeared before her. His empty eyes took in the bloody chamber. Flesh began to cover his body, his slightly worn grey wings filled out as the most beautiful man she had ever seen stood in front of her. His body was as pale as alabaster, his hair as black as pitch. Black eyes looked at her with a timeless intensity that only she and he could ever understand. She had always found peace in Death's arms.

He pulled her from the blood soaked bed. He just held her, his cold skin the same temperature as her own.

_Our Daughter misses you_ Death's voice toned in her head.

"I will see her soon." She said with a smile.

_She is getting curious_

"Well she is a child, it is what they do." She chuckled.

Death nodded as if this concept were foreign to him.

Death vanished from her arms.

One day her husbands would learn of her daughter, but until then she was hidden because of who and what she was. She was too young to control her powers. Her husbands could not meet her, not yet. When she was older and fully in control of her powers she would introduce them, but until then, only she, Death and Mon knew that the Death of Gods had been born.

She looked around the room again. A few more hours before reality intruded. She had too much to do. She looked at the two turtle shells pinned to the wall. One was pinned with a sai the other with a katana. Trick and Treat had lost their masks years ago. They had placed their powers in their turtle shells. At the moment they were being punished for pretending to be innocent deer so they could peep on Artemis while she was having a bath.

Sure her husbands had been 'disappointed' with them, but were sharing that secret smile that they didn't think women noticed that really meant, 'good job son, but don't tell your mother or we will all be in trouble.'

Then there was trying to stop Raphael and Leonardo from smiting every suitor that happened to come across Starlight and Strabright. She knew the girls were only 17 which was incredibly young, but not too young to be courted by some of the eligible gods. After all with The Destroyer as a mother, there would be no random gods stupid enough to try to either abduct her daughters or not be serious about their interest in them. What her husbands didn't realize was that gods did not think as humans did. The gods could court them for hundreds of years before coming to them with a formal request of marriage. She sighed. Then there would be Azazel telling her that some god had done something to another god and they needed it worked out, and then Mon would swoop in with complaints about the whole Underworld overcrowding situation that still hadn't been remedied.

She turned and crawled back between her two lovers. She yawned as she felt the pressure of the barrier begin to buckle. She could keep the intruder out if she wanted, but she didn't want to. But she couldn't let the intruder believe that she had been expecting her arrival. She closed her eyes. She'd let her intruder fight against the barrier for another hour or so.


	5. Chapter 5

**Well chapter 5 is now up, hope everyone has been enjoying it so far. Just wanted to thank forgottenrorever and Ur fav reviewer whos 2 lazy for your awesome reviews!**

**Please enjoy!**

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><p><span>Chapter 5<span>

**Donatello** watched as the Devil in the black cloak pushed through the black mirror.

He looked at Raphael in worry. His eyes were closed tightly and he was pale. He could see tears had run down his cheeks. He didn't know what his brother was feeling but Donatello didn't care. He could hate them if he wanted, but he was not going to regret making a deal with the Devil himself…or herself, for bringing him back. He looked at the mirror that hung in mid-air. He stood getting Michelangelo to help him haul Raphael up.

Donatello frowned as he looked into the blackness beyond the mirror. He started towards it.

"Donny what are you doing?" Leonardo asked him.

"I'm finding out what she did to Raph." He said with determination as he stepped through the mirror, dragging Raphael and Michelangelo with him. Bitter cold swept at him but he ignored it as he pressed through to the light on the other side. He looked around the chamber in horror.

Blood coated the walls, the floor and the ceiling. Someone or rather someones looked to have been slaughtered in here. He looked at the Devil who stood looking down at the bed.

Three figures were wrapped together on the blood-soaked bed. Three sets of black feathered wings blended together as Donatello recognized the naked forms of Darkness, Gabriel and Lucifer.

Donatello swallowed as he looked away and encountered two turtle shells that had been pinned to the wall. One was pinned with a sai, the other a katana. Donatello took a step back in horror. Michelangelo slapped a hand over his own mouth so he wouldn't let out a scream of horror.

"You know, it is very rude to enter a bedchamber without knocking." Darkness purred as she rolled over. Her blood soaked body glittered like the light of the moon.

Lucifer and Gabriel opened their eyes as they slowly sat up.

Donatello froze. He wasn't sure who Darkness was addressing, but he didn't want to draw any attention to himself and his brothers.

The Devil didn't say anything just stared at her. Darkness was naked except for her headdress. He knew this meant she was blind at the moment, but he figured that she could probably smell them.

"It has been a while." Darkness said with a smile. "For you, a couple thousand years I would guess."

The Devil tipped her head to the side. "Yes." She said.

"And to what do I owe the pleasure?" Darkness asked as she slid off the bed. "A very ingenious way of getting here by the way." She said with a smile. "So with all of this effort I will assume you wish something of me?" She asked as she stood naked in front of the Devil. Lucifer and Gabriel had also stood. They had wrapped themselves in the blood soaked sheets.

The door to Darkness' chamber swung open and their counterparts strode in, armed, wearing their bio-suits, and carrying their helmets under their arms.

They stopped and it was only _Donatello_ who didn't look around the chamber in horror.

"Lucifer if you have hurt Darkness in any way, I will have your head." _Raphael_ threatened as he took a step towards Lucifer.

"Who said the blood was hers?" Lucifer asked innocently.

_Leonardo_ looked around the chamber frowning until his eyes settled on _Donatello_. _Raphael_ stopped and paled slightly. "Gods Donny." _Raphael _whispered.

"Well to be fair, it isn't all his." Lucifer said with a shrug. "Anyway we have guests." Lucifer said motioning to them.

Their counterparts frowned. Donatello looked in shock from Darkness, Lucifer and Gabriel and back to their counterparts who seemed to have no problem with the fact that they had just found their wife in bed with two other men. Donatello swallowed as he slowly lowered Raphael to the floor.

"Make her stop." The Devil's voice said in irritation.

"Make who stop?" Darkness asked in question.

"You are very well aware of who." She growled. "I can feel her, scratching at the inside of my head and I need to know how to make her stop."

Darkness gave a humourless smile. "I can't make her stop." She said striding up to the Devil. She said softly. "You see, there is nothing and no one _to_ stop."

"I am more than just a Power." The Devil said angrily.

"Of that I can see." Darkness said nodding. "But you are not remembering what is true." Darkness said softly.

The Devil's hand clenched in anger. "I remember what is true. I am more, I deserve this life. I deserve to be free." She whispered.

"Oh, I whole heartedly agree." She said tipping her head to the side. "And I shall try to free you. But truly, only you can free yourself."

"No." She shook her head. "There is no way that she could have recovered. I am not Her." She said shaking her head.

"Well, a couple thousand years can do amazing things. The fact that you are here tells me that it is time." Darkness said raising her arms and becoming cloaked in her robes.

"It's impossible." The Devil whispered.

"Not impossible, just highly improbable. You are sleeping and I think it is time for you to wake." She said as her bells rang and tones throughout the chamber.

The Devil froze, it was as if her entire body ceased live.

"Now let us hope that your consciousness is not completely insane. I would so hate to have to kill you." Darkness said with regret. The Devil moved, looking at Darkness. "Who are you?" Darkness demanded.

"I am Nightmare." The Devil said softly.

Darkness nodded. "What are you?" She asked.

"I am the holder of Yggdrasil and Keeper of the Accords of Hell." Her husky voice said.

"A god and the Devil. That must be a fun job." Darkness said with a smile. "You have spent a lot of time in Hell and in Betwixt and Between I see."

Nightmare nodded. "Who are you?" She asked.

"Darkness." Darkness said.

"What are you?" Nightmare asked.

"Darkness." She replied.

Nightmare paused, but nodded.

"What do you think of my chamber?" Darkness asked.

Nightmare looked around. "It makes my teeth tingle. It makes me hungry." She said.

Darkness nodded. "Are you hungry?" Darkness asked.

Nightmare thought about the question. "No, but this does not mean I would not drink my fill if the desire pleased me"

"How many mortals are in this room?"

"Four." Was the prompt reply.

"Do you wish to feed upon them?" Darkness asked.

Nightmare paused. "Yes, but I seem to be busy at the moment."

"Do you recognize their scent?" Darkness asked.

"Who are you?" Nightmare sasked instead of answering the question.

"Darkness." Darkness replied as she drew her bladed weapons the same instant Nightmare drew hers.

Nightmare carried two blades strapped to her back. Donatello felt himself slip to the ground as the power of the blades rolled across his skin. One sword had a black blade that glowed red. The sheer force of the evil that rolled from the sword was enough to make him feel physically ill. The other sword was the blade she had used earlier to bring Raphael back. The blue blade now shone black with malicious intent.

"What teh Hells is she doing with Bloody Rage and Capricious Death! And Goddess' gauntlets?" _Raphael_ asked as he struggled against but was not able to withstand the sheer force of the power the two women were projecting.

All in the chamber but the two standing women were lying crushed to the floor. Darkness' black feathered wings rose from within her capes, her black, cat-like tail languidly moved back and forth. Darkness bared sharp canines as they attacked each other. Donatello watched in amazement as both fighters mirrored each other's moves to perfection. Neither one seemed to ever be on the offensive or defensive. It was like a beautiful ballet of bladed weapons and fighters clashing together in a rehearsed dance.

They both stopped at the same moment as the landed back on the floor each looking at each other and sheathing their weapons, the horrible crushing force that had pinned them to the ground abated.

"Who are you?" Nightmare growled in irritation.

"Who are you?" Darkness growled back.

"Why do you seem so familiar?" Nightmare asked.

Darkness shrugged. "Because I remember." She said. "I know it's hard, and even if you don't remember, that is okay, but you have to let go of the memories of the godhede that has been binding your soul together for the past two thousand years. Oh and try not to go insane while doing it." Darkness said with a smile. Nightmare's mouth frowned in confusion.

Nightmare looked over her shoulder and looked at them.

"He is broken." She said to pointing to Raphael, her muffled voice drifted over him. "And he is dying." She pointed to him.

Donatello's brother's looked at him in shock as he frowned at the Devil.

"Donny?" Leonardo asked a whisper of fear in his voice.

"Not important now Leo." He managed to growl.

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><p><strong>Nightmare<strong> looked at the creatures in front of her. She frowned. They seemed familiar somehow. She looked at the other creatures in the chamber. There was Darkness, Lucifer and Gabriel. She frowned again because she had killed Lucifer. And Gabriel was...Her eyes drifted over to the gods that stood in the room. They looked like the four turtle creatures who were standing behind her, but they were very different. They were incredibly powerful gods. In fact she had never felt gods with so much power, and they were masking it rather well. She turned her attention back to Darkness. Whoever and whatever she was, she no longer felt any power coming from her. She looked at the face that was a mirror of her own. She tipped her head to the side in thought and then nodded. She understood who Darkness was, who the gods were, and why Lucifer still lived.

She frowned again. She looked down at her gauntleted hands. _She had killed Lucifer, but why had she killed him? She wondered. And why did she keep getting flashes of a golden haired woman who looked almost like her? One who smiled and laughed. Why was she laughing with the creatures behind her, as she screamed in agony as they tortured her?_

She remembered being tortured in Hell. But how was that even possible? She closed her eyes as images rolled through her. But the images were fuzzy, grainy and indistinct. She needed to have a better look.

She stood outside of a locked door.

She looked at the lock and wondered if she would even be able to open it. She looked at the key in her hand. She looked at the wooden doors as she fit the key into the metal lock. Gods weren't big on introspection or self evaluation. They tended to just exist. They also tended to be bored, petty and greedy. She pushed open the double doors and walked into what appeared to be a library. The library was huge. She pulled a red book from the nearest shelf. She was thrown into a place she recognized. She realized she was in Hell, well Hell before she had ruled it. Cloaks swirling and anger and rage evident on her face she killed Lucifer and devoured his soul. Actually just killing him would have been kind. She ripped him apart, pulling his spine through his flesh, crushing his screaming skull beneath her boot and then devouring his soul like it was a bon bon.

She closed the book and tapped in against her hand. _So these were her memories. Interesting_. She walked further down the rows and rows of bookshelves. She figured out that the black bound books seemed to be the deaths of mortal children. She frowned. She didn't remember killing them. Her tail flicked in irritation. She walked back. _So who was the woman? _She wondered. _And who were the children?_

She browsed the shelves until she came across a young human girl. The memory rang for her. She looked identical to the woman who haunted her thoughts, but this girl wasn't her. She didn't know how she knew this, but she knew. She called the girl to life and walked around her studying her. She had Power, a small amount but enough to make her one of her creatures. She watched the young girl's death. Azazel killed her. He had called her Kaethryn.

She put the book away and moved closer to the door. Human children, all with varying amounts of power, all killed by either Azazel or guided by the invisible hand of angels to their deaths.

She looked to the thickest book in the library. She pulled it from the shelf.

Unlike all of the others it was bound in green leather and held together with a golden lock. She walked over to the fireplace and sat down in a wing chair. She put the book in her lap and tapped the cover. She stared into flames that gave off no warmth. _I could put the book back_. She thought watching the dancing of the flames. She didn't have to look. She didn't have to walk through the door that had appeared beside the fireplace. She could open her eyes and continue on as she had for the past two thousand years. She thought hard. She didn't even remember existing before killing Lucifer. Not that this was unusual for a god. But she remembered some things. She knew that where she was, this Castle, echoed with the sense of home as if she, not quite belonged, but more…had been here, existed here. It was home but it wasn't her home now.

She stood. She didn't want to know what was through the door and what was in the book. The doors and book were locked for a reason. She wasn't curious as to where the door led, or what was in the book.

She studied the green bound book. But the problem was that even though she was not curious, she was no coward, and she believed whatever was behind the door, whatever the book contained, would take courage to open both. She tucked the book under her arm and walked to the door. She opened the door and stepped through.

She entered a circular stone room. A woman hung in the center of the room. Her wrists were bound above her head with rope. Her body was completely wrapped in golden chains. They wrapped through and around her bloody body, as if it were holding all of her together. She could see where all of the pieces of her body had been fit back together. She looked at the single silver chain in thought.

A black butterfly with golden tipped wings hovered on her chest. She walked over to the woman with glorious golden hair that fell around her in russet and red amber waves to her waist. She looked at her pale peaches and cream complexion and looked at her own alabaster coloured skin. Moss green eyes stared straight ahead unseeing. She reached out and picked up the butterfly.

"Thank you." She whispered to the Nightmare godhede. "I think it is time for you to finally become a part of me." She gently pushed the butterfly into her very badly damaged soul. She knew it was her soul, her very mortal soul. She felt as if she should be more shocked than she was, but she wasn't. She looked at the key in her hand. She unlocked the book in her hands and opened it.

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><p><strong>Nightmare<strong> closed the book gently and walked from her Soul Room into her Memory Room. She tapped the book with a clawed finger. She slid the book back into place.

She opened her eyes and felt her cheek burn as a butterfly mark appeared on her left cheek.

"So, have you made your choice?" Darkness asked her in an ancient Pictish dialect that had been lost to humanity, but was still spoken within the Fae halls of the Tuatha De Danann.

"I have a choice?" She asked almost in anger.

"There is always a choice." Darkness said to her with a smile.

"Katherine is dead." Nightmare said with a shake of her head.

"True." Darkness agreed.

"So what do you want me to do?" She asked her.

"What do you _want_ to do?" Darkness asked.

"Do you always answer a question with a question?" She asked angrily.

"Sometimes the questions must be asked, because only you hold the answer." Darkness said cryptically.

She bared her teeth at Darkness. "Am I really this annoying?"

Darkness smiled. "We used to be worse." She said with a shrug.

Nightmare growled low in her throat. "It has been well over two thousand years!" She said to Darkness. "Things have changed."

"Very true. But some things stay the same." Darkness said to her.

"Because you would know?" Nightmare said to her.

Darkness looked at Lucifer and Gabriel. "Because I would know." She nodded as her eyes swept over the gods that were the doubles of Katherine's lovers.

"But I am not Katherine." She insisted.

"Neither am I, but I think I will be okay with having been her…one day." Darkness said with a lopsided grin.

Nightmare frowned and nodded slowly. "I am a monster." She said to Darkness.

"So am I." Darkness said. "I became the biggest monster, how about you?" She asked.

Nightmare nodded and smiled. "The biggest."

Darkness threw back her head and laughed. "Good." She smiled viciously. Nightmare lost her smile and looked at her, an unasked question in her eyes. "Anything worth having needs to be fought for." Darkness replied gently.

"I never was a coward." Nightmare said thoughtfully.

"Never. But if your heart is not in it, I would walk away." Darkness said seriously.

"Yes." Nightmare said with a nod.

"You realize what you have done to him don't you?" Darkness asked.

"I am starting to. I don't think I can even fully grasp the implications at this moment." Nightmare said softly.

Darkness nodded. "I do not think even I can fully grasp the consequences of what you have done."

Nightmare tipped her head to the side in thought. "You did something similar." She pointed out.

"Similar, yes, but wholly different at the same time. He is running out of time in more ways than one." Darkness said to her.

Nightmare frowned in thought.

"My Daughter's power will break soon, and when that happens his protection will be gone." Darkness warned her.

"I know." Nightmare said softly.

"What you have done is not meant to happen." Darkness said softly.

"Well, we have a whole lot of that going on, we will just add it to the pile." Nightmare said with a shrug closing the subject.

Darkness tipped her head to the side in thought. "You had less than a one in a million chance of succeeding in pulling your soul back together." She said slowly.

Nightmare smiled and a tarot card appeared in-between her index and middle finger. The Tarot card was of The Hanged Man. She fanned the two cards she held, the other being The Fool.

Darkness laughed. "Ah yes The Fool, rather like The Hanged man, an acceptance of being foolish, and so you fought with a Fool's Chance." She said with a smile.

"Yes, a Fool's Chance. Another option." She looked at Darkness seriously. "Katherine figured that if she was going to go out, she was going to go out fighting. Of course there was a million to one chance her soul would survive, but sometimes, someone has to be that one in a million." She shrugged.

Darkness smiled. "You fought with a Fool's Chance, and sometimes the Universe enjoys playing with million to one odds." She said wickedly.

Nightmare gave a quick smile."All I remembered was being Nightmare, but I think I was mostly myself. I am glad it was there. It gave something for my soul to bond to, but it lives inside of my soul, still holding bits and pieces of it together." She lost her smile. "But I finally remember who I am, and who I was, and now I am just really, really pissed off."

"Understandable. I too would be very angry, but be gentle with him. Your loss wounded him in ways that my Leonardo never had to deal with. " Darkness said stepping away from Nightmare.

"He's still alive isn't he?" Nightmare grumbled.

Darkness chuckled.

"Okay did anyone get any of that?" _Michelangelo_ asked.

Lucifer and Gabriel nodded but didn't offer up any information. Instead they began backing away slowly, which was probably the safest place they could be.

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><p><strong>I hope this chapter made sense. Did everyone get that Nightmare thought she was only the nightmare godhede?<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**This chapter was a little short, but I had such fun writing it. I love their counterpart's children I think they are hilarious! Please enjoy!**

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><p><span>Chapter 6<span>

**Darkness** looked around her. "I suppose we can get rid of the scenery." She said as the blood in the chamber vanished. The doors to her chamber opened and Atrumlucidus and Astrumlumen strode in. Their white floor length gowns hugged every curve of their bodies. Their green and brown eyes flashed with youthful determination.

Darkness sighed inwardly. _Well the peace had lasted only so long, and their timing couldn't be worse. _They stomped up to their fathers. "Dad how are we supposed to go out on a date if you keep threatening to smite all of our suitors." Starbright accused her father.

"You're too damn young to be dating anyone." _Raphael_ roared.

"We are not!" Starlight said angrily stamping her foot. "We are 17 years old!"

"Which is too damn young." _Raphael _growled getting in her face.

"Do you have any idea what that is in god years?" Starbright said dangerously. "I'm practically an old maid" She railed at _Raphael_.

"Raph's right."_ Leonardo_ said angrily. "What if some young god decides to make you his wife?" _Leonardo_ growled.

"That's the point." Starbright said with a roll of her eyes.

"Not at this age. Wait until you are a few hundred years old and then maybe we will talk about possibly letting some young god talk to you." _Raphael_ said crossing his arms in anger.

"A few hundred years!" Starbright screamed. "By then all the good young ones will be gone. They are the only ones not scared to death of mom. I'll be lucky to get a date by the time I'm a thousand!" She huffed out.

"It must be quite a challenge for you to have any approach you considering who your parents are." Lucifer observed.

"You stay the hell out of this Lucifer." _Raphael_ raged.

"Raphael, you are melting the floor." Darkness observed.

_Raphael _looked down at his feet as he tried to control the flames that had begun licking at his flesh.

"Uncle Lucy, Uncle Gabe, get some clothes on." Starlight said wrinkling her nose in disgust.

"Mom, tell the dad's that they are being unreasonable." Starbright whined.

"That's the great thing about being a guy." Cleas said as he strode in with Féirín. "Hey mom, can we have our shells back now, we promise not to use our transformative powers for checking out any bathing goddesses." They said innocently their brown eyes pleading, their blonde heads pressed together creating the impression of young angelic innocence.

Darkness rolled her eyes. "Just because I actually believe you doesn't mean I don't think that you are scheming how to use your transformative powers to spy on other naked goddesses doing other activities besides bathing."

They looked at each other and cranked up the innocent vibe. The sword and sai pulled themselves from the wall and their shells hovered in the air. They whooped as they grabbed their shells transforming into their turtle forms. "Ahh I love being a turtle." Trick said contentedly hugging himself.

"Only because you like impressing the goddesses with your bigger package." Treat said punching him in the shoulder as Trick smiled deviously.

"So, so not appropriate." _Michelangelo_ said with a shake of his head.

Darkness groaned. "We have company you know." Trick, Treat, Starlight and Starbright looked at their guests in surprise as they realized that there we other people in the room.

"Other daddy?" Starbright asked as her face broke into a grin. She launched herself at Leonardo. Leonardo stumbled back and they fell in a heap.

"So if you were my real father would you let me go out on a date. There's this really dreamy god, Slien, he's one of the off-world alien gods, anyway, would you let me go out on a date with him. Starlight thinks he's totally dreamy too, and it is the first guy we have both actually agreed on, isn't that wonderful, because that has to be like Fate or something." She threw a dirty lance at _Donatello._ "And since Daddy Donny won't tell us who we marry I think that we should be able to date him to see if he is _the one_."

Darkness covered a smiled as she watched the emotions flitting over Leonardo's face, starting with, overwhelming shock (OMGs they were only 5 the last time I saw them!), which turned into embarrassment (Where did the breasts come from?) to indignation (No young god is going to get within 100 feet of my not really but almost daughter, because they are too damn young to be dating!) Followed by, (wait, they both want to date him?)

"If I was your father I would lock you up and throw away the key, both of you." He growled out.

Starbright stood up with a huff.

"If you deny them the experience of dating, they are just going to want it more. That is not how you handle this situation." Darkness said shaking her head.

"Thanks mom you're the best!" The two girls said hopping up and down in excitement.

Darkness smiled as her husbands glared at her. "But if he brings you back one minute after dawn I will make sure that he wishes he were dead. And I will make you two do Mon's paperwork for a month."

"But…Mon's job is so boring." Starlight squeaked.

"Make it two and just try getting a date after I spread little screaming bits of young god throughout Darkrealm."

They paled in horror. "You wouldn't" Strabright asked in a barely audible whisper.

Darkness smiled cruelly. "Just try me." She said as darkness started seeping into her eyes.

They swallowed. But nodded. "Make sure you have fun." Darkness said with a cheery smile. "Now be polite and say hi to all of our guests. No one likes a selfish goddess."

"Gods she scares the hell out of me." _Michelangelo_ said as he dragged her close and gave her a bruising kiss.

"Eww dad yuck." Trick said as he closed his eyes and looked away sticking his tongue out. "It's bad enough having to watch Uncle Lucy and Uncle Gabe kiss mom, which for the record, is just weird. But way more gross seeing you do it."

"Yeah dad, get a room." Treat said closing his eyes in disgust.

"I have a room, you two hooligans are standing in it." _Michelangelo _growled at his sons.

"Hey, who is she?" Trick asked studying Nightmare.

Trick and Treat circled Nightmare. "She's got a mortal body. That's interesting."

Stralight nodded. "The only goddess ever to be bound in a mortal body was the Golden Goddess." She said with a sigh. "Most romantic story ever."

"Yeah too bad the gods went and killed her." Treat said as he looked at Nightmare's ass. Trick kicked him.

"Hey." He protested.

"Okay you two." _Michelangelo_ said herding his son's out. "Go bother someone else, preferably someone who deserves it and who we don't know. Even better, go bother a mortal." _Michelangelo_ shouted after the laughter of his retreating sons.

"You know they are going to go out and try to check out naked mortal women now, don't you." Darkness observed.

_Michelangelo _shrugged and smiled. "They're 16 what do you expect?" He asked.

_Raphael_ looked at their counterparts seriously. "Kids are just trouble. Way more trouble than they are worth. Sure they look all cute an innocent when they're born, then you know what happens, they learn to talk, and then it is all downhill from there. If I had hair, it would be grey" He grumbled.

"Yeah, but you love us Daddy." Starlight said giving her father a kiss on the cheek. Starlight gave a worried glance at Raphael who was still partially slumped on the floor. She walked over and knelt down. "Other daddy?" She said in a soft whisper. She reached out and touched his shoulder.

"He should be able to hear you now." Darkness said softly as Starlight looked at her in worry.

Raphael's head lifted up and his sightless eyes looked at her. "Starlight?" Raphael questioned. He looked around confused.

Starlight looked at him and looked at Nightmare who was standing a little ways off, repressed anger pulling at every line of her body. But Nightmare paused as she looked at Starlight and Starbright. She bowed her head slightly in acknowledgement. Starlight frowned as she tried to figure out who the goddess, who Nightmare was. Her eyes widened in shock as she recognized the soul that pulsed within Nightmare. Starlight covered up the confusion on her face. She was smart enough to realize that there was something else going on at the moment and Nightmare had not openly acknowledged her, meaning Nightmare was determined to keep her identity a secret, at least for now. Starlight leaned in and gave him a comforting hug. "Good luck daddy." She said softly as she pulled away and stood up walking back to her father.

_Raphael_ sighed as he put his arm around his daughter. "Have fun." He growled. She smiled, gave one last worried glance at the other Raphael, grabbed her sister and ran for the door. Starbright ran back and gave Leonardo a bruising hug. "Sometimes wishes do come true daddy, don't give up." She said with a worried smile.

"Bye dad." Starbright said to her father as she caught up with her sister.

"You're letting those two out?" A voice said from the doorway. A miniature Darkness stood at the door draped in black and gold kimonos, her hair styled ornately around her black cat ears.

Darkness smiled at Hitsuzen. "With threats hanging over their heads, yes."

Hitsuzen shrugged. "I suppose they have to make their own mistakes." Her 14 year old daughter said with a smile.

"Hitsuzen don't torment your fathers, they are already having a hard enough time." Darkness admonished.

Hitsuzen smiled deviously. "Hello other daddy." She said walking up to Donatello. She patted his cheek. "I see my dream helped, I'm glad." She said with a smile, but frowned slightly as if she noticed something. She slowly looked at Darkness who nodded, acknowledging that Donatello was dying, but that there was another Fate that was beginning to take hold of Donatello.

Hitsuzen paused, but then bowed and walked out of the room. Donatello put his hand to his cheek which came away sticky.

She looked at their counterparts. "Good luck." She said to them. She knew they were not going to have an easy road ahead of them.

"Darkness what's..." Donatello began.

"Nightmare is gone, you had best hurry before the portal closes." Darkness said softly cutting him off.

They looked at the portal and nodded. Donatello bent down and with Leonardo's help managed to drag Raphael off the floor. Donatello gave one last worried glance at them through the portal and he was gone.

Darkness watched the portal close, the golden daydream fluttering behind Donatello, attracted by the nectar her daughter had left on his cheek. She looked at it thoughtfully.

"Donatello, which came first, the chicken or the egg?" She asked him.

"The chicken." He said giving her a strange look. "The chicken developed the necessary biological and instinctual changes needed in order to produce offspring in the form of an egg."

"It is never easy to have a philosophical conversation with you. I was not being literal Donatello, more, I had believed we were the originals and they the echo of us, but I believe it may be the other way around." Darkness said softly.

_Raphael _frowned. "How does that make sense?"

Darkness tipped her head in thought. "I had always wondered where Bloody Rage and Capricious Death were forged and who wielded them and filled them with so much hate and hope. Goddess' gauntlets as well. But I believe I now know who did."

"I thought that Goddess got the swords from Diemortia and Persephone?" _Leonardo_ said as he walked over to her and pulled her into a cool embrace. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the feel of his arms, the lightness she felt in her soul when he was around. She opened her eyes.

"She did, but where did they get them? I believe I now know who thinned the barriers between our world and T'lae-ran." She said thoughtfully.

_Donatello_ frowned. "But that doesn't even make any sense. Nightmare is from an alternate Earth. How could what she does on her world affect our world thousands of years in tha past?"

"Because she is more powerful than the Golden Goddess ever was. I am more powerful than she is, but not by much." She looked at Lucifer. "With the power of Hell behind her, plus every scrap of magical belief on Earth, not to mention the very Tree of Life itself, it is possible that she is going to sunder worlds and remake the universes."

"Is she dangerous?" Leonardo asked in worry.

"Incredibly." Darkness said with a smile.

"So how do we stop her?" Raphael asked.

Darkness chuckled. "We don't. For us what she has done has already happened."

"So we are the echo?" _Michelangelo_ asked.

Darkness smiled. "Yes Michelangelo, we are the echo and they, the originals."

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><p><strong>So what did everyone think?<strong>


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N Just a warning, Really long chapter!**

**Also I really hope everyone enjoys this chapter, it gave me a bit of trouble because it could have gone so many different ways, but after re-writing it a few times this is what I came up with.**

**AS requested by forgottenforever and SkittlesofDoooooooooom D, chapter 7. **

**Also on that note, wanted to throw out a big thank you to forgottenforever and SkittlesofDoooooooooom D for your awesome reviews! Also Skittles I wanted to reply but there was no little bublbe for me to reply to your review and I searched under your name but I couldn't find you=( So please please with bon bons on minty ice cream, review again and enable your little message thingy!**

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><p><span>Chapter 7<span>

**Leonardo** looked at Nightmare warily. Nightmare was waiting for them when they broke through back to the lair. She was angry, but he didn't know why, he didn't understand who she was. He had thought she would be gone when they arrived, but she didn't appear to be going anywhere at the moment.

He understood that she claimed to be the Devil, but she wasn't Lucifer. His eyes moved from her cloaked figure to his brother.

"Raph?" He said softly to his brother as he knelt down and gripped his hand.

"Leo?" His brother asked him in confusion.

"How could you Raph?" Michelangelo said to him, his voice breaking.

Raphael closed his eyes. "I'm sorry, not your fault. I'm sorry you had to find me like this." He whispered wretchedly. "I think I dreamed of Starlight, all grown up. I hoped I would be dead before you found me, but it's okay, I feel...I don' feel the pain or loss anymore. I finally feel at peace. I just...there wasn't another way." He said softly.

"That's it, I've heard enough." Nightmare's voice growled. She strode up to Raphael, bent down and picked him up by his plastron. Her clawed gauntlets dug into his shell as she hauled him up. "You're not dead yet." She growled.

Leonardo and his brothers fell back a step in shock. She threw Raphael hard against the wall. His carapace crashed against the brickwork as he slid down to land in a heap.

Leonardo drew his swords, but Nightmare was already striding towards his fallen brother. "Don't you dare touch him!" Leonardo yelled in shocked horror.

Nightmare stopped. Her hood looked towards him. "He wanted to die." She said angrily.

She looked back at Raphael who was shaking his head as if trying to clear it. "Do you still wish to die Raphael?" She asked him

Raphael frowned as he looked up at her. "Who..." He began."

"You should be dead. You drove your sai into your heart and bled out. However, you brothers made a deal with the Devil, that would be me, and I brought you back."

Raphael's eyes widened in horror. "Leo!" His brother whispered in shock.

"I'm sorry Raph, she offered, we couldn't just let you go." Leonardo said, his voice breaking.

"You made a deal with...with HIM!" Raphael was starting to get worked up.

"Not Satan Raph, she calls herself Nightmare." Donatello said softly.

"Do you still wish to die?" Nightmare questioned silkily.

"Back away from him." Leonardo warned. Nightmare did not turn her attention away from Raphael.

Raphael clenched his teeth together in anger, in misery. "It hurts too much Leo." He said his voice breaking in despair.

"You wouldn't know the first thing about pain." Nightmare sneered.

Raphael looked up at where her voice came from. "You would never understand." He said hopelessly.

"Raph..." Mikey began gently but Nightmare cut him off.

"Pathetic." Nightmare said shaking her head. "And what would your love think if she were to see you now, this wretched, broken, shell of a man who was once the center of her world?"

"She'll never know what I became." Raphael said in despair. "I suppose I can be thankful for that."

"Wrong answer." Nightmare said as she kicked him hard sending him sprawling across the floor.

Leonardo had a sword aimed at her throat. "You touch him again, and I kill you." Leonardo growled.

Nightmare laughed. "Been there, done that. But you are welcome to try again." Nightmare said viciously.

Leonardo moved but Nightmare was already gone, already picking up his broken brother. She shook him lightly. "I will ask you one more time, what would your love think about how you have lived your life until now? What would she think if she could see you now?" Without even letting go of her grip on Raphael she caught Michelangelo's nunchuck in one hand pulling him towards her and lashing out with a vicious kick that sent him sprawling onto the ground where he lay motionless.

"Mikey!" Leonardo and Donatello shouted together.

"Ow." Michelangelo groaned as he slowly began to sit up.

"K..." Nightmare grabbed Raphael's mouth roughly.

"You don't even deserve to say her name." She hissed. "Now impress me before I put you out of your miserable existence. And if your brothers attempt to lay one more hand on me, I will not hesitate to silence them."

Something sparked to life within Raphael's sightless eyes. "Don't you threaten them." Raphael growled.

"What price should you have to pay for betraying the woman you love I wonder?" She asked. Raphael looked at her in shock. "What, you do not believe you betrayed her?" She questioned.

"No." He ground out. "I betrayed her."

Nightmare shook him. "I'm not talking about you breaking your promise. I am talking about your betrayal of her. She was dragged to Hell, tortured, killed and then shattered her own soul, all to protect you and your brothers."

"Don't talk about her. You have no idea..." Raphael began as she let him fall to the floor.

"How is what you have become **not **a betrayal?" She asked angrily. "She risked everything so you could live, and all you did was throw it back at her as if your life didn't matter."

"My life doesn't matter!" Raphael spat out.

"Then you are nothing but a betrayer. You should have lived for her, instead all you did was throw your life away." She sneered.

Raphael glared at her as he picked himself up off the floor, using the wall for support. "You have no idea how much it hurts. How much my failure to save her claws at my very soul."

"So this was all about you. It had nothing to do with her." She sneered.

"It had everything to do with her!" He shouted.

"No, it didn't. YOU chose to blame yourself. YOU chose to punish yourself. YOU chose not to Live. YOU chose to end your life. It sounds like it was all about YOU." She said angrily. "Because if she could see you now..."

"How could I live without her? Tell me that. I could never love again! I would always feel as if..."

She cut him off. "No! **You** are the master of your fate; **You** are the captain of your soul."

Donatello made a choking noise. Leonardo looked at his brother who was pale to the point of grey.

"What does that even mean?" Raphael ground out angrily.

"You could have lived without her." Nightmare said furiously. "You could have eventually overcame your grief, your guilt, your loneliness, but instead you betrayed the woman you loved. Not by not saving her, she never expected you to, but by not living _for_ her."

Raphael closed his eyes and blew out an angry breath.

"So tell me Raphael, do you still long for death?" She questioned menacingly.

Raphael clutched at the wall his eyes closed, he remained silent.

"You are such an ass." Nightmare said as she punched him hard in the face. He went sprawling.

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><p><strong>Raphael<strong> lay on the ground ,his mind working furiously as he rubbed his jaw. He finally realized what his other senses had been telling him. He slowly sat up. He could feel his brothers clustered around him, asking him if he was okay.

"Yeah, I'm good." He said as he lay looking at the light behind his eyes. He had thought that he was dead or dying, because although he couldn't see, it was no longer dark, he could see light.

"Thank you Darkness." He said. He rubbed his jaw again. "You have one hell of a right hook." He grumbled as he let his brothers help him to his feet.

"Raph..." Donatello began shakily, but he cut his brother off.

"You're right. She would hate me for what I've become. I'm a selfish bastard, but I've always known that. For a moment...I almost thought you were...Her. Even though I knew She couldn't be here, I had hoped...but I can hear the soft rustle of your feathers, the lashing of your tail because you are angry. Your voice is so like Hers, but contains that overlay of husky sexuality that Hers never had, and you always did smell like Her. My soul feels lighter, as if it is complete again. I know when you leave I will feel that great gaping hole in my soul again, but you are right. She would hate me."

"Raph..." Donatello said unevenly.

He finally opened his eyes and looked over at Donatello's face. He looked pale and strained. Leonardo was wearing a blank mask, his feelings shuttered as if he was in too much turmoil for him to deal with what he was feeling. Michelangelo looked confused and worried.

He blinked again. He could feel himself take a step and then stumble. His brother's tried to catch him but he was dead weight. He slipped to the ground and fell to his knees as he looked at his hands. He could see.

He could hear his brothers calling his name but the sound was coming from far away. He watched as the pale yellow light played about on his skin.

"I can see." He whispered. He looked into his brother's faces. "I...I can see." His voice came out choked.

His brothers stopped talking as they looked at him in shock. His eyes flew to Darkness, only it wasn't Darkness who stood there. It was a woman wrapped within the folds of a black cloak, her face and hair obscured by the hood.

"I took the darkness from your eyes. They just took a little time to realize that they could see again." She said with a shrug. "And I knocked some sense into you, that seemed to help."

He slowly stood as he brushed off his brother's offers of assistance. The lair got quiet as they looked between Nightmare and himself.

Nightmare stood looking at him, hip cocked to the side, arms crossed over her chest in irritation. His mind attempted to reason with his heart, and failed.

He took a step towards her, but she took a step back in response. "It's you...It can't be, but it is you." He managed to whisper. She did not respond, did not confirm or deny his accusation.

"K..." He began but suddenly she was in front of him covering his mouth with a silver clawed gauntlet.

He reached out and pulled back her hood back enough to reveal a beloved face. He closed his eyes and pulled her tightly against him, she let him for a moment before she pushed him away angrily. She barred her sharp canines in anger.

"How could you." She said angrily, tears filling angry blood red eyes.

He reached out and touched her scarred face gently. He traced the line of the scar that was translucent against her pale skin. It was the one Leonardo had given her when he had been possessed by the angel. She flinched back."I'm so sorry." He whispered. "I am so, so sorry. I just…I couldn't go on without you." He said miserably. "But I should have tried. I should never have blamed myself when I knew you wouldn't have. I should never have thrown your sacrifice right back in your face." He said wretchedly.

She looked away and closed her eyes. She looked back at him, his honey brown eyes looked into her moss green ones. "I'm not Her you know." She said softly shaking her head as she stepped away from him.. "I remember her, but I'm not really her."

He closed his eyes and shook his head. "Past life, present life, I don't care." He opened his eyes and stepped close to her again. "I'm sorry I am such an ass." He said softly reaching out and tracing the black butterfly that was emblazoned at an angle on her cheek, just to the left side under her eye.

She pulled away as she lifted her clawed hands and Raphael felt power slide and dance along his skin. A circle appeared around them on the floor burning gold. The power rose up and over all of them putting them in the center of a dome.

"We can talk freely now." Katherine said. "There are too many things that have ears." Katherine turned her gaze back upon him. "Damn it Raphael!" She shouted, red fire beginning to flood her eyes. "Don't." She said to him as he stepped towards her. "Just stay over there." She said angrily.

"How?" Donatello said in a broken voice, as if he was too scared to accept her as being real, because she might suddenly vanish if he hoped too much.

She looked at Donatello, her eyes reverted to green again as she gently began to talk. "Darkness didn't Destroy my soul. I shattered my soul, and it managed to survive, but it needed to rest, and I needed time to pull what was left of my soul back together. Darkness pushed the Nightmare godhede into my body so that my soul had something to focus on, to act as my center." She finished softly.

"I didn't know." Raphael said wretchedly.

She turned her attention back to him."You should have known I still existed Raphael. You should have had hope that I was still out there somewhere!" She accused him.

"How could I have known!" He shot back as anger rose within him.

"Because you still exist!" She yelled. "You still exist." She said softly as she looked at him. Raphael looked at her in shock. "My soul rings with yours, my heart beats with yours. If your heart stops, so too does mine. If your soul ceases to exist, so too does mine, and vice versa. The moment our eyes met our souls began to ring together. From that very moment we were no longer separate beings." She whispered. "But even if I died your heart would begin to beat again, because I still existed!"

"Then why didn't Darkness tell us!" Raphael asked angrily. "Why didn't she tell us that you were still alive?"

"Because Darkness didn't know." Donatello said softly. "Something stayed her hand, she had an inkling, but she didn't know what was going to happen. And then when she did merge the Nightmare godhede with Katherine's soul, she didn't know what would happen."

Katherine nodded. "She knew it would take time for my soul to heal."

"It was less than 5 years!" Raphael yelled at her.

"For you!" She said angrily. "Time does not move the same in Hell and in Betwixt and Between as it does on Earth. It took me 2456 _years _to heal my soul. You would have been long dead and your bodies returned to dust by the time I emerged from my sleep."

"In my dreams, it really _was_ you." Donatello said in shock as he paled.

"Yes." Katherine said simply. "Bits and pieces of me."

Donatello stumbled as Michelangelo grabbed him.

"It's fading." Katherine said as she strode over to Donatello. She looked at him with worry. A golden butterfly with purple tipped wings emerged from Donatello's chest. It fluttered as it began to fade.

"Damn it!" Katherine said shaking her head, as she grabbed at the butterfly which vanished.

Donatello clenched his teeth together in pain as he clutched at his body. His eyes flashed gold.

Leonardo darted to Donatello's side. "What did you do to him?" He shouted.

"I did nothing, this is Katherine's doing." Katherine said with a shake of her head. She lay Donatello down gently.

"What did she...You do?" Leonardo asked in worry.

"Let me think Leonardo." Katherine said as she gently brushed Donatello's cheek.

She quickly pulled off her gauntlets. They were silver and clawed. Metal plates ran up the length of the gauntlets. She pulled one metal plate off from each gauntlet. She began whispering in a language Raphael didn't recognize. The silver plates began to glow until resting within her hand were two silver cuffs inlaid with golden writing that Raphael could not read.

She lifted up the sleeves of Donatello's white hoodie and attached a cuff to each wrist. Donatello's pain filled face relaxed. He opened his eyes and she helped him to sit up.

"Are you okay Donny?" Leonardo asked in concern.

Donatello nodded but his whole focus was centered upon Katherine. She looked back at him with concern, but slowly stood.

Leonardo turned his attention back to Katherine. Too many emotions rolled around on his brother's face for him to identify only one.

"Katherine." Leonardo whispered as he slowly stood. Michelangelo helped Donatello to his feet as Leonardo reached out and pulled Katherine to him.

"I don't know what is going on." He said his voice breaking slightly. "But is it really you?" He questioned.

Katherine's arms reached up to embrace him but stopped, falling back to her sides.

"I'm sorry Leonardo, Katherine is dead." She said softly. She pulled out of Leonardo's embrace and walked over to Donatello.

"These will only slow the process." She said pointing at his cuffs.

Leonardo looked at Katherine miserably, but there was a spark of determination that lit his eyes.

"What did you do to him Katherine?" Leonardo asked.

"Don't call me Katherine. Please." She said to him pleadingly. "For my safety."

Leonardo blinked in surprise but nodded.

Katherine nodded in return. "Katherine pulled Donatello back from death, but there is always a price to pay for using power. The price for a life, is always a life." She said softly.

Raphael felt himself pale. "But...you didn't die." Raphael whispered in horror.

"No she didn't, because of what she did and the price she paid. She paid with so much of her life, giving what she could to Donatello to keep him alive, but he doesn't have much time left, a few months perhaps." She paused as she looked at them. "But she was not powerful enough to do what needed to be done, and so, she made a Covenant with a supernatural creature." She said softly.

"What? Are you saying that Donny really is...dying?" Leonardo asked in a choked voice.

"Yes." She said.

"Donny why didn't you tell us?" Leonardo questioned.

"Because Leo, you didn't need to worry about me. I made my peace with it years ago."

"So why is Donny in pain, and what supernatural creature?" Leonardo asked.

"What's a Covenant?" Michelangelo asked in confusion and worry, his eyes sliding to Donatello.

"She made Donatello her Familiar." She said softly.

Donatello's eyes widened in shock.

"She made him familiar with what?" Raphael asked in confusion.

"She made Donny her Familiar Raph." Michelangelo said his mouth pulled into a frown as he thought. "But I always thought that only witches could have Familiars, and they are usually cats, or crows, lots of crows in horror movies."

"Wait, what?" Raphael asked in confusion. "Katherine was a witch?" He asked in shock. "You're a witch." He asked shaking his head back and forth.

"No, I am not a witch." Katherine said to him. "And I suppose you could classify Katherine as a witch since she drew upon the powers and spiritual energy of the Earth." Katherine said thoughtfully. "Though perhaps...mage? No. Sorceress...no. Witch would, I suppose, be the closest thing she would be." She looked again at Donatello. "To pull him back from death, Katherine bound her soul to Donatello's. However, the price for pulling him back was her life, she began to die, but Donatello wouldn't let her go. He promised her that he would help her, always protect her and that he wouldn't let her die. They entered into a pact, an agreement, a Covenant. Because of all of your spiritual training, Donatello had enough spiritual or magical power within him to be classified as a magical creature. Therefore, because Katherine agreed to the promise offered by Donatello, and because she was what she was, Donatello became her Familiar. In doing this she was able to pull that extra amount of power needed to save herself. She pulled this power from Donatello who had enough to save her life. The price Katherine paid for saving Donatello's life became a great deal of her life force as well as a great deal of power, and this was accepted by Death." Katherine finished.

"I don't understand." Leonardo said shaking his head. "What is a Familiar?"

"A servant." Donatello said softly.

"Yes, a servant whose sole purpose is to serve and protect their Master until such a time as the Covenant between them expires." Katherine said softly.

"So what is happening to him? Why is he dying now?" Leonardo asked in worry.

Katherine sighed. "Because the amount of life that Katherine gave him is almost depleted." She said softly. " As to what is happening to him, Donatello broke their Covenant."

"I failed to protect her." Donatello whispered. "I let her die."

"Yes, so the chains of your Covenant lashed back to kill you, but you didn't die. The chains were broken but they didn't vanish. Hitsuzen's butterfly, which was a gateway to the Dreaming, allowed you to protect Katherine's shattered soul and help her pull it back together. It also acted as a shield against the wrath of the chains. However, now that my soul is again whole, the chains of the Covenant are reforming, because Donatello's length of time he was to be her Familiar was always, as in forever." She said softly.

"But Donny never said anything about feeling anything, or doing anything before, why is he being affected now!" Leonardo asked in frustration. But then Leonardo's eyes widened as he realized there had been times when Donatello knew Katherine was in danger, knew where she was, and had had a problem leaving her side, until she had ordered him away from her.

"Yes." She said nodding at Leonardo's realization. "He protected her and watched out for her, and he remained much as he was. Donatello is in pain because the Covenant needs to make Donatello into something that can protect what he is now bound to." She said softly.

They all looked at Katherine. She was standing there looking at them. Raphael frowned in confusion. _What was she?_ His brother's had said she was..."The Devil." He said in horror.

"Yes." She nodded. "But that is just a title, it isn't what I really am." She said softly.

Donatello's eyes widened. "Darkness merged your soul with the Nightmare godhede!" He said in shock.

"Along with a few other things, yes." She said with a nod.

"So you...you're a...god." Michelangelo said with a mixture of awe and disbelief.

"Yes. I am Nightmare, Goddess of Magic, holder of the Accords of Hell." She said to them.

Shocked silence greeted this. Raphael had no idea what she was talking about. All he knew was that the woman he loved was now a goddess. He looked at the golden dome around them. And the Devil.

"Normally when there is a Covenant between Familiar and witch, the Familiar is more powerful than the witch. Katherine was slightly more powerful than Donatello but not by much. However Katherine had the ability to channel huge amounts of power." Katherine said to them. "But now, the power difference between us is too great. So the Covenant will change Donatello into something that can protect me. His power will still be less, but because of what I am, he will be able to draw power from me...when the transformation is complete."

"What is he becoming?" Leonardo asked softly. "And will it stop him from dying?"

"I do not know what it is he is becoming. At the very least he is becoming immortal, but...I believe the most likely scenario is that he is becoming a demon. So yes, if the transformation is completed, he will cease to die." Katherine said softly.

Donatello looked at his hands in shock. "A demon?" He questioned.

Katherine nodded. "Not a Hell demon, more, a spiritual demon."

"Like a Japanese demon." Donatello said as he looked at the cuffs around his wrists.

"Yes." She said with a nod. "Those bands will slow your transformation, but not forever. If you take off those cuffs, the chains will complete the binding once again." She paused and looked at Donatello. "I'm sorry Donatello." She said with anguish.

"How much of me will be left?" Donatello asked her. She frowned in confusion. "How much of me will remain after the demon takes hold of my mind?"

"I don't know, not much." She said softly. "You will most likely still look like you, but you will be a servant, a slave, a killing machine whose only purpose in life will be to serve, obey and protect me." She said miserably. "Donatello..." She began but he cut her off.

"How long will these cuffs keep the transformation at bay?" Donatello asked her softly.

She frowned. "If you wish it, they will keep the transformation at bay until the day you die."

Donatello looked at her seriously and nodded tersely. "There is no point in worrying about something we can't control." He said to her as he pulled her into a crushing embrace."I've missed you." He whispered.

She clutched him tightly but pulled away after a moment. "Donatello..." She looked at all of them. "I'm not Her." She said to them. "I know you don't really understand but, I'm not Her. Katherine really did die. Her story is written and locked within a library. She is just another memory buried with millions of other memories, millions of other past lives."

Raphael looked at her, the knots in his stomach that had clenched in worry over his brother, tightened. "What are you trying to say?" He whispered as he stepped towards her. His mind had been in turmoil as he tried to come to grips with what and who she was, and what was happening to his brother.

"I can't just..." She waved her hands. "I can't just pick up where She left off. I remember you, I remember her love for you, but I have lived for well over two thousand years without you." She said in anguish.

Raphael felt his world blacken. "There is someone else." He whispered.

She looked at him. "Raphael, you betrayed me, Her, by giving up on the life She sacrificed Her very soul to save." She shook her head. "I just remembered who I was, I can't just pretend the last two thousand years hasn't happened." She said to him.

"Fine, I betrayed you, but Leo didn't, Donny didn't, Mikey didn't." Raphael said wretchedly.

"I. Am. The. Dev-il." She said to him slowly. "I. Rule. Hell."

Raphael glared at her angrily.

She turned her back to him and looked at the blood, his blood, that had spilled to the floor. He felt shame build up in him for taking his own life. She flicked her hands and the dome around them disappeared. She undid her cloak held it out, and tossed it over the drying blood.

Raphael's eyes widened in shock and he was barely able to stifle his gasp. Donatello let out a gasp, Leonardo let out a quickly silenced noise, and Michelangelo covered his mouth to silence a gasp.

She was as pale as Darkness had been. Opalescent skin almost glowed in the dim light of the lair. Her wings rose, stretching out and opening revealing black feathered, red-tipped wings like nothing he had ever seen. They were feathered but they looked more like bat wings, except instead of a membrane stretched between the fingers, each finger was covered in feathers. She pulled her wings back in close to her body. Her serpentine tail flicked in irritation from side to side. She looked at him over her shoulder. He looked at her white hair, one blood red streak running through her pale locks. Her white cat ears were pulled tightly against her head in irritation, her white ram like horns that curled out from the top of her head glinted in the dim light of the lair.

"I'm not human Raphael, not even close." She said with a negligent shrug, her voice riding along his skin like a sinful invitation.

"I don't care what you look like." Raphael ground out. She was wearing a white swag of fabric that covered her breasts. The fabric draped gracefully around her sides. A flowing white skirt that separated in the center revealing a red strip of fabric. There were several slits int eh fabrick one on each side of her hips, and one in the back for her tail. He legs were encased in red, thigh high leather boots. But it wasn't her appearance that made him ill, though shocking, it was the scars. She had too many. Her body showed all that she had suffered at the hands of the demons who had obviously worn their faces, and used their weapons to torture and eventually kill her. He could even see the blow that finally killed her. A three pronged weapon had been plunged through her heart. He looked down at the scars that now covered his chest. He had the same matching scars above his plastron.

He felt his vision waver. It had been him. The last image Katherine had seen was him, plunging his sai through her heart.

She sighed. "She knew it wasn't you. Lucifer couldn't break her because she knew it wasn't you, no matter how much every instinct screamed it was all of you, she could see in their eyes, that they were demons."

Her hands were again encased within her silver clawed gauntlets. He looked over her appearance again. The scars were not ruinous, in fact they were barely even noticeable. They were translucent on her pale skin. His eyes wandered up her arm to a blood red band that was tied around her upper arm. He frowned.

He recovered himself enough to talk without the bile burning his throat."Then if you don't feel anything for any of us, why do you still have this wrapped around your arm!" He yelled as he grabbed the tails of his mask. She looked down at her arm in confusion. She untied the ties and unwrapped it. She looked at the scrap of fabric and looked at him holding the mask up. She held it out to him.

He looked at the mask in shock. He turned his head away in anger. "It's Katherine's."

She nodded. "I remember." She said as she lay it down on the couch.

He opened his mouth, but was stopped by Donatello who lay a gentle but firm hand on his shoulder. "Let her go Raph." He said quietly.

He looked at his brother in shock. He clenched his teeth together in anger. He couldn't let her go. He had just found her again. His fractured heart would shatter again if she left. "You told me that I was a part of you, and that you were a part of me!" He accused, the tears in his eyes threatening to spill over. He knew he had betrayed her. He knew that it wasn't Katherine. He could hear the difference in her voice, see the difference in her eyes, but it didn't matter, he didn't care who or what she was, she was still his.

She had turned away from them but stopped at his words. "I can't stay. I have too many things to do, but perhaps in a few days...I'll come back." She said as she vanished.

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><p><strong>Long chapter I know! But I had a lot of stuff to cram into it. Hopefully everyone enjoyed it! I had fun with Nightmare beating the crap out of Raph, I think he kinda deserved it a little.<strong>

**Also, if anyone wants to see a pic of Nightmare, she is my new avatar. I thought I was going to draw Darkness or even Goddess first, but I wanted to really get a visual of Nightmare since her appearance is the most extreme of all of Katherine's incarnations. I wanted to see if she would still be beautiful with how inhuman she actually is. I think she turned out pretty well=)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Okay all, this next chapter is kinda long, but so much stuff to squash into it! A big shout out and thank you to Griffon of the Night and Double rainbow All The Way for being awesome and reviewing!**

**I hope everyone enjoys!**

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><p><span>Chapter 8<span>

**Raphael** looked at where Katherine had stood. A heavy feeling rolling around in his gut.

Michelangelo slowly walked over to where she had placed his mask. He picked it up gently as he thoughtfully stroked the fabric.

Donatello wavered on his feet.

"Donny!" Leonardo said worriedly as he caught Donatello. Leonardo helped him over to the couch.

Donatello opened his eyes. "I'm sorry Raph, I can't hold it all." He said as he doubled over. Raphael doubled over as emotions crashed into him. He knew they weren't his but they were so intense it was almost painful. He lost his breath as longing, horror, guilt, anger, love, pain, hatred, hunger and lust burned through him.

He gasped as the emotions were suddenly cut off. He began to breathe again. "What the hell was that?" He whispered.

"You already know the answer Raph." Donatello said to him.

"Wait that was...her." He asked in shock.

"She's blocking her emotions really well, but her control slipped for a moment. I can feel her Raph," He closed his eyes. "I can feel her, like I am bobbing on the end of a line. She swore she would never let me go, and she never did, even in death, even through the shattering of her soul, she still held onto my soul." He managed to choke out.

Raphael closed his eyes. He could feel her. The part of him that had been missing, that had died the day she had, bloomed to life. She was alive and well somewhere in the world. His eyes snapped open. He knew she would be back, because she would no more be able to walk away from him as he could walk away from her. But he knew he was going to have to be patient, which was not his strong suit.

He looked into Leonardo's worried and anguished eyes. He stood up and gave his older brother a hug. "I'm sorry Leo. Gods, I am so sorry." He said hugging his brother close.

His brother clutched him tightly. "I'm sorry Raph." His brother said to him. "I should have known...I should have been able to figure it out." He choked out but he was already shaking his head. "Is she okay Raph?" Leonardo asked him. "Will she be back?" Leonardo's voice was filled with worry mixed with desperate need.

"She's good Leo." Michelangelo said. "Well, as good as she can be. She's not insane, and she remembers us. It's a start." Michelangelo said softly as he gave his mask to him.

He looked at it in confusion. "She wants you to wear it again Raph, even I got that." Michelangelo said to him.

He took his mask and walked to the bathroom. He looked at himself in the mirror. "Holy shit!" He yelled as he stumbled back crashing into the towel bar behind him knocking it down.

Leonardo was at the door looking at him with concern.

He knew he had been beaten to within an inch of his life, but he looked like hell. Scars raked down over his eye ridges and over both eyes. Three jagged scars cut across his right cheek. He had a few other smaller scars on his neck his arms his plastron and he guessed his legs, from his encounter with the Red Dragons. But the scars weren't what made him exclaim in shock. He knew he had been losing a little muscle since he couldn't train after he was beaten and blinded, but he had lost more than he thought. He was slimmer than even Donatello now.

No wonder she had a hard time looking at him. He had a lot of work to do if he was ever going to regain any of his muscle.

"It's not that bad Raph." Leonardo said quietly.

He looked at his older brother and frowned. Leonardo looked bulkier and older than he remembered. He had dark circles under his eyes and worry lines had been etched into his forehead and around those same eyes.

"Jeez Leo, you look like hell. " He said as he walked past his brother. He looked at Michelangelo and Donatello, both of whom also bore the signs of too long with too little sleep, not enough food, and too much worry.

"No wonder she ran away, we all look like death warmed over." Raphael grumbled as he strode to the kitchen. He opened the fridge and grimaced. He couldn't even remember what he had eaten over the past 4 years, but if the fridge was any indication, they had been eating crap.

He closed the door and looked at his worried big brother. He walked over to him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Do you still love her Leo?" He asked softly.

His brother's eyes widened in surprise and shifted away. "Darkness scared the hell out of me. I understood why and how she became what she was, but," His eyes shifted back to his. "Raph, she is _your_ soul mate, not mine, not Mikey's, and I still don't think I can even grasp what she did to Donny." He said softly.

"Leo..." He began.

Leonardo shook his head. "It's too much to ask of her Raph, too much to ask of us. She's been dead to us for over 4 years. I'm trying to wrap my head around her being," He began ticking points off on his fingers. "Alive. A goddess. The Devil. And almost two and a half thousand years old."

"Leo?" Donatello asked him. Leonardo turned his attention to Donatello. "If we had saved Katherine, and she had come back...hurt, more than just physically, would you be patient with her? Even if she flinched away from your touch because even though her mind and heart knew it wasn't us who were torturing her, her body still shied away?"

"Of course." Leonardo said closing his eyes against the image Donatello had created.

"And would you still love her, even though she wasn't quite the same because she could never be the same, because what she went through was too traumatic for her to ever be that person again?" Donatello said pushing just that little bit more.

"Yes. "Leonardo closed his eyes, his shoulders sagging in defeat. "I still love her." He whispered. "She is the only woman I could have ever loved this much." He said with a shake of his head.

Michelangelo nodded."My other self dated scores of women." Michelangelo said to him. "He never moved on either. But this is harder for her." Michelangelo said seriously.

Donatello nodded. "She just remembered who she was. She is feeling too many emotions. She feels betrayed by Raph, guilty because of, well, what we went through in mourning her, and confusion over who and what she is." Donatello shook his head. "We can't expect her to be the same person, no matter how much we want her to still be Her, she never will be. For her it has been almost 2500 years. Can you even begin to wrap your head around that kind of time? I mean, if you think that far back in human history, Alexander the Great wasn't even born yet to go conquering across the known world! And besides that, she never did answer Raph's question when he asked her if there was someone else." Donatello put in softly.

Raphael opened his mouth to protest and then he remembered that she hadn't answered his question. He frowned. "So then if she already has someone, why wouldn't she just say so?" Raphael growled in anger.

Donatello shook his head. "I'm not sure Raph, but, she can't lie."

"Hey Raph!" Casey's voice rang out. "Heard you were alone tonight so I thought we would drop by. Me and April brought over a movie and some pizza."

Raphael's eyes went to the clock. It was close to 9:00pm.

"She brought us back a few moments after we followed Nightmare." Donatello said looking at the clock.

Raphael looked at Casey and April as they strode in. Raphael's mouth opened in shock. "Gack, you're pregnant!" He said in fascinated horror to April. April and Casey stopped dead as her eyes sought out Donatello's. "Why didn't anyone tell me!" He asked, hurt creeping into his voice.

April looked at him and waved her hand. He followed the movement of her hand. "Raph, you...you can see." She stammered. Her face broke into a huge grin as she launched herself at him. Or as well as a very pregnant woman can launch herself.

He let her hug him. "I'm sorry, I hope I didn't hurt you." She said in concern as she pulled back, happy tears filling her eyes. "What happened?" She asked in as she dashed away the tears. He looked over at Casey and realized that it had been a tough 4 years for all of them. His brothers not only lost the woman they loved, but for well over 4 years, they had lost him as well. He had been there in body, going through the motions, but..."Congratulations April, Casey." He said to them.

She waved away his words. "When did you get your sight back? How did it happen? Donny was sure that the damage was permanent."

He shrugged, uncomfortable with the events leading up to him regaining his sight. He looked at his brothers wondering exactly what had happened after he had died. It was then he realized that he had actually been talking to Katherine or he supposed Nightmare, and that she had watched him kill himself. A new wave of shame and guilt tore through him."Just a little bit ago." He said looking at his brothers who had brought him back to life by making a deal with The Devil. "Forget about me, why didn't you tell me April was pregnant?" He asked, looking at Casey.

"We didn't mean to hide this from you bro...we just thought..." Casey gave a shrug and looked to his brothers for help.

Then it struck him. _Had he really been that bad?_ He wondered. He had thought that he had hidden all of his misery from his brothers, but maybe he hadn't. They had believed him to be in such a fragile state of mind that they thought he wouldn't be able to handle the news. Between losing Katherine, and his sight, they had thought that the news of them having a baby would hurt him, possibly break him. He opened his mouth to give an angry retort but slammed his mouth shut. His shoulders slumped. He didn't know how he would have reacted, but truthfully he probably wouldn't have cared. He was just waiting for the all important goal of finally ending his miserable existence. And that thought made him realize more than anything else why Katherine believed she had been betrayed by him. That he wouldn't care that his best friends were starting a family made him realize how far he had fallen, how deep he had been sunk within the depths of overwhelming depression. He swallowed.

He blew out a breath and nodded in understanding. They hadn't wanted to push him over the edge. They just hadn't realized that he was so far past the edge, he had already stepped over and was halfway down. "Got any names picked out?" He asked softly.

Casey and April looked at each other and then looked back at him with hesitation.

"We have a few, but nothing really decided yet. We still have two months to decide." April said watching him carefully.

He nodded. "Do you know what would be a really good name, if it's a girl?" He questioned his friends.

They looked at each other again, hesitating as if gauging his state of mind. "We..." April paused as she looked at Casey. "We liked the name Katherine for a girl, but we didn't really know how you guys would feel about it." April continued softly.

Raphael looked at them in shock, but he smiled. He was sure Katherine would have appreciated the sentiment. "Katherine's a good name, and if you want to use it, I'm sure Katherine would be honoured, but, I was thinking instead about the name Shadow."

They blinked at him in shock as his brothers smiled.

"Shadow?" They asked in unison.

"I think it's a good name April." Donatello said with a nod.

"But...You guys really think Shadow is a good name?" April asked in shock.

April grabbed her stomach. "The baby just kicked." She said in wonder. Casey reached out and touched her belly gently.

"I think she likes it." Casey said softly.

Raphael smiled as his brothers grinned. He turned serious. "I'm happy for both of you, and I wished you hadn't kept it a secret, but...I understand why you did."

Casey walked up to him and clapped him on the back. "It's good to have you back bro, we were worried." He nodded but felt guilt burn through him.

"Sorry guys, but I need to sit down." April said as she pulled away from Casey. She walked over to the couch picking up Katherine's cloak, which was half on the seat half on the floor. She looked in horror at the blood and the blood stained sai laying on the ground. She looked at them searching for wounds.

"It's a long story April. We...we made a deal with the Devil." Donatello said softly.

April paled.

Suddenly the lair began to shake. Raphael's eyes widened in horror as Casey grabbed April protectively.

A red circle with burning sigils appeared in the air in front of them. Raphael backed away as his brothers drew their weapons and he drew his sai from his belt.

The center of the circle split open revealing a tall handsome man in a dapper grey business suit with dark purple vest and matching tie. He had longish sandy blonde hair parted at the side. Piercing blue eyes looked at them through black rimmed glasses. He looked at his shoulders which were burning. All Raphael could see behind the man were rolling orange clouds. The man brushed at the tiny bits of flaming particles on his suit. He frowned in irritation."We have got to get that fixed." He grumbled as he stepped through the doorway which closed behind him, the ring of red disappearing.

He looked them over and straightened his tie with his left hand, in his other hand he held a black leather briefcase.

Raphael started as he recognized the man, though he was used to seeing him in Khaki shorts and a tacky blue Hawaiian shirt.

He gave a slight bow. "My name is..."

"Azazel?" Raphael asked in shock as dread and anger surged through him.

Azazel frowned. "Don't call me that." He hissed.

Anger raged through Raphael. It was the very demon who had killed Katherine over and over through thousands of lifetimes. His anger receded slightly. It was also the demon who had, in the end, tried to save her life, almost at the cost of his own. Raphael knew he had been tortured for having helped her, and he knew that Lucifer would have killed him eventually, or maybe just tortured him for the rest of eternity. Azazel would have to have known this, known that he didn't stand a chance of saving her, but he had tried anyway.

Azazel straightened his tie again. "I prefer Samael." He said, a small amount of irritation leaking into his voice. He strode past them sitting down on the couch Casey and April had hastily vacated. He placed his briefcase gently on the coffee table. "My Lady Morning Star has charged me with the task of delivering this to you." He said as he opened the briefcase. He pulled out two thick, legal sized envelopes. He closed the briefcase and stood.

Leonardo's eyes narrowed. "Who sent you?" He asked suspiciously.

"I already told you, My Lady Morning Star." He said as he looked at his watch. "I am to answer any questions you may have, but I only have half an hour before the gate opens again." He said as he presented an envelope to Donatello and himself.

Raphael looked down at the envelope and frowned in confusion.

"Who is Morning Star?" Leonardo asked suspiciously.

"Lucifer means light bearer, but he was also known as Morning Star." Donatello said slowly as he turned the envelope over in his hands.

"But he said My Lady Morning Star." Raphael said looking at 'Samael'.

"K..." He began before Michelangelo hit him hard in the stomach.

"It's Nightmare." Donatello said slowly. "So is that what they call Nightmare in Hell?" Donatello asked Samael.

"You're here at Nightmare's request." Leonardo asked sceptically.

"Correct." Samael said with a nod. "Now, in your envelopes you will find the documents relating to said deal you entered into with My Lady. The deal was originally a verbal agreement, however, for record keeping purposes we would like a signed copy of the transaction made between you and My Lady for services rendered. Also, " Samael's gaze zeroed in on Raphael. "Since you were unable to agree to the deal, we need your signature as well, stating that you agree to having a relative speak on your behalf, as well as signing the liability clause which absolves My Lady of any potential side effects caused by services rendered."

Raphael and Donatello looked at each other and looked back at the envelopes in shock. "Side effects?" He questioned.

"Guys, what is going on?" April asked in fear and worry.

Samael handed Raphael a white quill pen and a dagger. "The contract must be signed in blood." He said as Raphael looked at the dagger in confusion.

"Wait...don't tell me, you really did make a deal with the Devil?" April asked in a horrified whisper. "I thought you were talking about Bishop, or Dr. Stockman, not the actual Devil. The one who killed Katherine!" Her voice shook in horror.

"So Night...Morning Star wants us to sign this?" Raphael said as he opened the Contract. It was about 30 pages long and his brain hurt after he read the first sentence. The contract was written in legal terminology that he had a hard time following.

"Just show me where to sign." Raphael growled as he walked over to the couch and sat down avoiding the still wet blood stains.

"Raph!" Leonardo said in horror.

Donatello began skimming his contract.

He shrugged. "What, you think she's inserted a clause in there somewhere to get my soul?" He asked his older brother. His brother looked at him with worried eyes. "She can't take what she already has Leo." He said softly as he glanced at Donatello.

Donatello finished skim reading his contract. "Everything seems to be in order." He said to them.

"We have the finest legal team in the Underworlds working on these contracts." Samael said defensively.

"That's what I was worried about." Donatello said as he sat beside him.

"Let me sign that Donny." Leonardo said softly to him, holding out his hand.

Samael shook his head. "The deal was struck between Donatello and My Lady. "

Leonardo opened his mouth to protest but Donatello cut him off. "He's right Leo. I was the one who agreed to the terms of the deal, not you. I am the one who has to sign."He added softly. "Besides Leo, she already holds my soul."

Raphael looked at the dagger and nicked his arm. He took the quill and touched the nib to his blood that had slowly begun to pool over the cut. The quill turned red. Raphael looked at the red feather in surprise then shrugged as he signed the contract where there had been little red X's marked.

He put the Contract back into the folder and handed Donatello the now white quill and dagger.

His younger brother repeated what he had done with the dagger and then signed his contract, placing it back inside the envelope.

Raphael looked at Casey who was looking pale and at April who was looking ill.

"That all Sam?" Raphael asked him.

Samael frowned at the shortening of his name, but he didn't protest. "I was instructed to wait until after you signed and if you did willingly sign these contracts to do this. He held up the envelopes and they burst into flame. "Technically you were dealing with Nightmare, not Morning Star, she used Earth magic to bring Raphael back, not Hell magic."

"I don't understand?" Raphael said in confusion.

"If you know that she is the Devil and would willingly sign the contract anyway, then she knows that you perhaps accept her being the Devil. I was instructed to then give you these." He said pulling out four envelopes and a business card. He handed each of them an envelope and handed the card to Leonardo.

"Celestial Tailors?" Leonardo questioned as he looked at the card.

"That is correct." Samael said with a nod.

Raphael looked at his envelope and opened it. He pulled out a Tarot card. He flipped over the card, it was The Devil. Raphael frowned as he looked at the card.

"I don't get it." Raphael said to Samael.

"You each hold a card that has the ability to summon My lady if you so desire. Time does not move on Earth as it does in Hell and in Betwixt and Between, so sometimes it is difficult for her to keep track of what is going on in the mortal realm. To summon her all you need to do is sacrifice some of your lifeblood to the card and she will know she is needed." Samael said to them. "As for the Tailors, if you are to go out with My Lady, I will not have you embarrassing her by dressing as you normally do. They are the best tailors in the world and will appropriately clothe you." Azazel said as he wrinkled his nose as he look at them.

Raphael looked down at himself. He was shirtless, his sweats a splattered mass of blood. He looked at his brothers who all wore jeans and hoodies. All of his brothers had his blood on them as well. He grimaced.

"Out?" Raphael questioned. Katherine had just walked out on them a few minutes ago.

"Yes, she has given your...situation...some thought, and has decided that if you so desire, you may accompany her on some important business she has to attend to here on Earth. After this business has been dealt with she will have some spare time afterwards to get...reacquainted, with you." Samael said to them as he straightened his jacket.

"Morning Star wants us all to go on a business dealing with her on Friday?" Donatello asked shocked.

"Like a date?" Raphael asked.

Samael gave a curt nod. "Unless of course you wish to decline, that too is an option." Samael said to them.

"So how are we supposed to go out with her, we aren't exactly human, and how are we supposed to go to this tailor?" Raphael asked.

Samael waved off his concerns. "Just go in and ask for Tony. My Lady Morning Star will take care of the particulars, you just have to be ready by 7:00 Friday night. Your ride will be sent round at that time, and the driver does not like to be kept waiting."He warned.

He looked at his brothers. He figured it was as good an opportunity as any to convince Katherine that she couldn't just walk away from them, and that they didn't care who or what she was now. He loved her and if he couldn't convince her to stay with him, he didn't know what he would do, but whatever it was, it wouldn't be what he had done for the last 4 years.

"We'll be there." Raphael said as he looked at his older brother who was flipping the tailor's card around between his fingers looking conflicted.

Samael nodded. "I shall inform My Lady."

"Where is Morning Star right now?" Donatello asked softly.

"She and her other consort are currently off-world at the moment." Samael informed him.

Raphael's head shot up. "What do you mean other Consort?" Raphael exclaimed. "When did she get married!" He growled as Donatello's words came back to him.

"Consort, small 'c', not her husband or husbands. My Lady has never married. Her consorts represent her when she is performing her duties as My Lady Morning Star, but is unable to be present as My Lady Nightmare as well as the reverse. You must remember she is both the highest Prince of Hell as well as the goddess of all magic. Her consorts represent her, as well as help her with her duties when she is within Hell, within Betwixt and Between or within Yggdrasil." The name sounded like igdrasil.

"Gesundheit." Michelangelo said to Samael.

Samael frowned and growled a little in irritation. "My Lady Nightmare has claimed Yggdrasil as her Seat of Power. It has many names, but it is also known as the Cosmic Tree, or the Great Tree of Life, to name a couple, and she controls it."

"Wait, the giant Tree thing that used to be a house?" Raphael asked in shock.

Samael looked at him as if he didn't really want to answer more questions but had no choice. He sighed and sat on the arm of the couch crossing his arms over his chest. "Yes, the Giant Tree thing." Samael grumbled. "The Great Tree is symbolic in many human cultures. Yggdrasil was probably the most powerful because it was Named, and things with names have great Power capital 'P'. But more than that, all the belief and all the power that existed, was housed within that tree, and it was dying. But the Tree chose Nightmare as its new god, and now the Tree flourishes. Unfortunately this means that all of the creatures and gods associated with the Tree are rising. And so there are many gods and goddesses who are trying to gain or reclaim the power of the Tree. Of course this is just one of many problems that My Lady Nightmare has had to deal with over the past two and a half millennia." Samael said with a shake of his head.

Raphael looked at Samael. "So these consorts of hers..." He began.

Samael shook his head. "I was instructed not to talk about them. That is between you four and her."

Raphael frowned in irritation but nodded.

Leonardo turned the Devil card around in his hand in thought. "Why did you do it Sam?" He asked softly. Samael's blue eyes widened in shock, but shifted away uncomfortably. "You killed her over and over with no thought, but you tried to save her this time, why?" Leonardo asked showing him The Devil card. The card showed the stereotypical image of the Devil. Red skinned, goat-horned, goat-legged, black goateed Devil. Samael's true form. The Devil didn't look like that anymore, maybe he never did, or maybe Raphael was missing something.

"Why do you look like the Devil?" Raphael questioned.

Samael's eyes shifted to him and he looked at his watch. He grimaced and stood beginning to pace. Raphael could almost imagine his red triangle tipped tail lashing from side to side in irritation.

"You love her." Donatello said softly.

Samael stopped pacing and tensed, his shoulders finally slumping. He blew out an irritated breath and turned to face them. "I killed her, over and over again because her goodness made me ill. It gave me great pleasure to kill something that burned with so much goodness that it hurt to look upon her." Samael began. Raphael noticed that Samael wasn't using any of her names, and remembered that their counterparts had to keep who Darkness was a secret, and he assumed this was most likely the case now. He assumed as well that Samael actually did know who and what Katherine actually was.

"I thought I was destroying one of God's greatest creations, until I figured out that she wasn't. I had begun to notice that she died unusually quickly for a mortal, in all of her lives. There were too many accidents, too many coincidences for there to not be another force at work. I finally discovered it was the hand of Heaven that was also killing her. It made me question why Heaven would kill such a sublime thing of beauty and purity. When I discovered who and what she was I was thrown into turmoil. She began to fascinate me. I still killed her, but it gave me no pleasure. We developed a banter of sorts if she was powerful enough or old enough to understand, maybe even remember what was going on, but she never feared Death or myself. She never wanted to die, but accepted it as her Fate. I knew Lucifer wanted to use her eventually, to what end I realized eventually, and it was then that I decided to stop him, because I felt _something _for her. I did not understand what it was that I felt. I knew it was some human emotion. I possessed many a human, but there were times when I walked the world in my own created form, searching for her, and each time I did this, a tiny piece of the human came with me when I returned to Hell."

"That is why I placed the trigger within Kathlynn. I made Kathlynn remember everything so that when the time was right, the memories would be triggered and she would remember, and she would know she was in danger. I got Donatello to trigger her memory and she remembered. Though I underestimated how powerful she had become." He said softly as if he regretted that he had nearly killed her when the memories surfaced. "The night we attacked, I took her. She looked up at me with those green eyes. Eyes that never once judged me, should have judged me, should have hated me, should never have trusted me, and yet she did. I held out my hand and she took it willingly. I knew then that this was it, the moment I had been waiting for. We rode into Hell, but I did not take her to Lucifer. Instead I hid her from him as best as I could, for as long as I could. But Hellhounds are merciless and they eventually tracked and cornered us. The rest, I believe you know." He finished softly. "I love her." He said softly. He sneered at himself. "I am a demon who can love." He shook his head angrily.

Samael turned his attention to him. "And I look like the Devil because I was at one time the Devil. I was one of the first rulers of Hell, until an angel by the name of Lucifer Fell and became the first Prince of Hell. But I remained. More than just a demon, less than an angel." He shrugged. "But I serve My Lady Morning Star, and shall serve her until the world crumbles to ash and nothing is left, but darkness." He said softly.

Raphael nodded.

Samael looked behind Raphael and nodded at them. Raphael looked over his shoulder at the Hell Gate that appeared. It opened showing the rolling orange clouds of Hell. Samael strode through, the gate closing behind him and vanishing as if it had never been.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

**Raphael** looked at April as she shouted.

"Okay...somebody had better tell me what is going on. Now!" April said angrily, but fear underlined her anger.

They looked at each other and looked at April. His brother's looked at him, his shoulders slumped but he realized it was he who had to explain what had happened, what he had done.

He walked over to the couch and picked his bloody sai from the ground. He placed it over his heart, right over the scars he now bore, a constant reminder of what he had done.

"Hey bro, what are you doing?" Casey said as he slowly approached him, hand held out as if pleading with him to stop what he was doing. He lowered his sai.

"You're too late Case, so were my brothers." He said pointing to the scars above his plastron. He looked at his sai and slid it through his belt.

"Raph?" April questioned.

"I killed myself April." He began softly.

April looked at him in shock and Casey had paled.

Donatello helped April sit down on the loveseat since it wasn't covered in his blood.

"Raph." April said in anguish when she looked for confirmation from his brother's faces, and seeing their grim looks, she looked even more ill. "How could you?" She asked him in an angry whisper, as she slowly stood up.

"The Devil, or Morning Star, or Nightmare, whatever you want to call her, brought me back, for a price. She took the darkness from my eyes, which healed them so she gave me back my sight." Raphael said, the guilt thick in his voice.

"That was one of the 'side effects' Samael was talking about." Donatello said softly. "That, and I haven't seen Raph move around like this in over a year. I think she healed your body as well Raph."

Raphael's eyes widened in shock as he moved his body around. His brother was right. He hadn't even realized that he could actually move without pain. He had been so used to being in constant pain every time he moved, that he hadn't even noticed it's absence.

"Nightmare is..."Leonardo paused remembering Katherine's silent plea to not say her name. "Her." He finished.

"Her who?" April asked in confusion.

"One who we thought was lost forever." Donatello said to her.

April's eyes widened. "You mean K..." Michelangelo covered her mouth and shook his head.

"Yeah." Michelangelo said to her as he softly began telling April and Casey what had transpired.

When Michelangelo had finished telling her and Casey the story April looked at them dubiously. "You can't...date...the Devil." She whispered softly.

He looked at April, the anguish he felt inside reflecting on his face. "I can't lose her again April. She's not the same person, and I know that, but if she can still love me, I need to be with her. She's my soul mate April. I can't give her up and if she doesn't want anything to do with me, if she can just walk away, then I guess I can live with that, because it was her decision, and I know that she is still alive, but I can't _not_ try."

April closed her eyes and slowly sat down. "Okay." She said softly as she looked at them. "If that is what you want, I can't stop you, but just be careful, okay?" She said to them. She paused in thought and looked at him seriously. "Does she really have your soul Raph, Donny?" She questioned.

Raphael looked at Donatello. "Not in the literal sense April, but she has it anyway." He said softly.

Donatello looked at him and shrugged. "She has my soul in the literal sense." He said softly. "My soul is...still in my body, but we are linked together April. I can feel her, and I can feel the chains of my promise beginning to reform." Donatello said looking at him.

Raphael could feel her too. But the fear of what his brother was going to become nearly choked him.

* * *

><p><strong>Donatello<strong> watched as Leonardo snuck out of the lair. Michelangelo walked up behind him.

"You think he's going to go see Miriam?" He asked.

Donatello nodded.

"So what do you think is going to happen with her and Leo?" Michelangelo asked.

Donatello let out a puff of breath. "I don't know Mikey." He said softly.

* * *

><p><strong>Leonardo<strong> watched as the woman entered the building with her son. She didn't even realize she was being watched, even though she was only a few steps away from where he had concealed himself in the shadows.

He waited for an hour, so that her son would be in bed.

He quietly made his way up the fire escape and knocked lightly on her living room window.

He waited a few moments until her face looked through the window ,a combination of confusion and worry on her face. When she saw him she smiled as she let him in.

She was a pretty woman in her late 20's with curling auburn hair and light blue eyes.

"Leo?" She said in surprise as he climbed in through the window. "I wasn't expecting you." She said as she began nervously picking up scattered toys and books, magazines and dishes. "Sorry about the mess." She said with an apologetic smile. Her apartment was a small two bedroom on the third floor. The neighbourhood wasn't in the best part of town, but it wasn't in the worst either.

He had met Miriam one night a few months after Raphael had nearly been killed by Hun's goons. He had been brooding on the rooftops trying to calm his thoughts and come to grips with what he had allowed to happen to his brother.

Miriam had gotten into an altercation with a couple of youths who had decided to grab her purse after she had refused to give them a light for their cigarettes.

She had gotten hit on the head and was dazed. He had checked on her before he had gone after the youths. He had gotten her purse back but she had been gone when he had returned to where she had been robbed.

It was an easy thing to open her wallet and find her address. He had found her window open and had placed the purse on the coffee table. Miriam had come into the room at that moment and had seen him. She had already had one horrible shock that night, and then she had another. She had fainted dead away.

He was going to leave, but had decided to stay instead. He didn't know why he had felt reckless that night, but he had felt reckless and empty.

When she had come around he had had to cover her mouth so she wouldn't scream. After he had explained the situation to him she was still frightened of him, but grateful to have her purse back. After that incident he had come around to check on her every now and then. He had found out that she was a single mom of one 3 year old boy. Her and the boy's father had split up a year before and she was trying to do it all on her own. Her son Hunter had been at his father's place when she had been attacked. He had begun to visit her and she finally relaxed around him. They became friends of a sort and Leonardo had always wondered if they were ever going to be more.

"My brother tried to kill himself tonight." He said miserably.

She stopped her restless tidying and looked at him in shock. She had never met his brothers, and although she knew their names, she had never met them. He had done his best to keep her a secret from his brothers because he didn't know how they would react to him trying to move on after Katherine's death. He knew Michelangelo had shut himself down. No one would ever again enter Michelangelo's heart because he didn't want to have to feel that pain ever again. His brother believed there was no point in loving anyone if all they were going to do was leave or die. Donatello had become withdrawn, but no more than usual. He had been heartbroken, but had dealt with his grief better than his brothers had. He supposed having Katherine talk to him every night had soothed his grief-stricken heart to some extent. Raphael had been the worst. He knew his brother was putting on a amazing performance trying to convince them all that he was fine, but his brother had shattered. He was so consumed by grief that he and Donatello had to remind him to eat, to sleep and train. It was the moments when Raphael had believed that he was alone that they could see his mask of normality fall, and the pain leach through. As for himself, he had brooded and become obsessed with getting stronger, fighting better, and keeping his grief-stricken family together.

At the point when their family was going to finally break they had encountered _something_. They weren't sure what it was. It had been long, thin and grey. Whatever it had been had attacked a couple who had been walking along the street. Whatever it was, the humans hadn't even noticed it as it killed them, sucking them dry like a vampire, except when it was done with them, there had been nothing left, just a dried up grey husk of skin. They hadn't been able to stop it, it had fed and disappeared even before they had gotten to street level.

It was then that they began paying more attention. There were reports of more disappearances, and bodies found or killed in both mysterious or gruesome ways. Gang activity had been reaching fever pitch. Even the gangs knew that there was something different out there. He and his brothers had begun paroling the nights with more urgency, more frequency, until Raphael had nearly been killed. And then everyone had focused on just keeping their broken brother alive.

"Raph?" She asked quietly. Miriam knew that Raphael had been badly injured over a year ago and had lost his girlfriend nearly 5 years before that. Leonardo hadn't given her any specifics, just that Raphael's girlfriend had been kidnapped and killed, and that they had been unable to save her. Leonardo had always referred to Katherine as Raphael's girlfriend, because he was the one who deserved to have her in the end. But with what he now understood, Katherine would never have been able to choose between Raphael and Donatello, but he didn't deserve to call her his girlfriend and besides, Miriam was human, she would never understand the type of relationship they had all had with Katherine. He barely understood it at times.

He could only nod. "Oh my God Leo, that's awful is he okay?" She asked in concern gently patting his shoulder.

He nodded his head again as guilt washed through him. "I should have noticed." He whispered.

Miriam took his hand and led him to the couch. The couch was used and a little beat up, but it was comfortable. "Leo, you can't blame yourself." She said patting his hand gently.

"Then who should I blame." He snapped angrily. Her eyes widened in surprise and a tinge of fear. She slowly let go of his hand as he blew out a breath. "I'm sorry." He apologized. "I just," He shook his head. "I felt so helpless."

"From what you have told me Raph has been through a lot. He loved this woman, and she was murdered, there is nothing you could have done and you tried to get her back before they killed her." She said with sympathy. "But Leo, why did you never let yourself grieve for her?" She asked.

He looked at her in surprise. "You loved her. I know you did. I can see it every time you talk about her. You were in love with your brother's girlfriend, but you never let yourself grieve for her, like you didn't have the right."

"I didn't have the right." He quietly replied.

She frowned at him but didn't push. "So your brother is okay?" She asked again.

"Yes, he's going to be fine." He said. In fact Raphael was set to make a full recovery while, Donatello was now faced with the choice of becoming Nightmare's demonic Familiar, or dying.

"What are we doing Miriam?" He questioned her softly.

It had been nearly a year since they had met and although he knew she had feelings for him, and there had been a few awkward moments of intimacy, they had never really moved into anything he could term as a relationship.

She looked at him and looked away, but he had caught the look on her face of anguish. The look that said 'if you were only human, then this could work'. "I know you love me Leo, and it's not as if I don't love you, but I have a son I have to look out for. And he needs someone in his life he can depend on, who isn't just a phantom of the night." She said softly.

He looked at her and nodded. He hadn't expected anything else. The problem was that she was right. She would never be able to depend on him for anything. He couldn't support her monetarily, or emotionally because he would barely be around. To have a relationship with a human was just not practical. There were too many obstacles that would have to be overcome. In a way April had been right. She wouldn't have to give up everything, but at the same time, they would rarely be able to be together, and that wasn't much of a relationship having to sneak around and hiding that they were together.

Their physical relationship had been awkward as well. His skin was too cool, too textured for her to feel comfortable touching. And kissing Katherine had somehow been easy. With Miriam, it had never felt right, and he suspected it was because Miriam was used to kissing a human mouth, not a mutant turtle one.

"I'm sorry." She said softly.

"I know." He said in return. Miriam was everything he could have wanted in a partner. She was funny and smart, a little on the timid side, but she never fought with him or challenged him. She was supportive, in all of his decisions. He protected her and watched over her. She was everything he had wanted and he hated that Michelangelo had been right about him. He needed Katherine because she was everything that he couldn't stand. She had a strength of character that was as frustrating as it was awe inspiring.

He and his brothers would have to be lucky enough to fall in love with a woman who had an amazing fortitude and strength of character to become _other_. And he knew in his heart of hearts that Katherine would have been able to do it, because she was _other_, she just hadn't known it.

He looked at Miriam's miserable face. He did love her though, but it wasn't the same love he had had for Katherine. He would have been content with the love he felt with Miriam, would have fought for it, but it was like living in the dark and witnessing the bright light of day. After seeing and experiencing such a thing, you could never settle for anything less than that bright light.

"I'm never going to see you again, am I?" She questioned him , tears beginning to brim on her lashes.

He gave a half smile. "No. I think it's for the best." He said as he stood.

"I'm so sorry Leo, I am so, so sorry." She apologized again.

He pulled her off the couch and gave her a goodbye hug. She hugged him back with a ferocity that surprised him. It was then he realized that she did love him, but she had to look out for herself and her son, and that was a different kind of strength that he also stood in awe of.

"Goodbye Miriam." He said as he walked to the window.

"Leo, before you go...I just wanted to say that, I know you love me, but I think I was never first in your heart. I think your brother's girlfriend still occupies that position, and I don't think any woman will ever be able to live up to her memory unless you let her go." She said softly.

He smiled at her then. "I know. At this point I don't even think she could live up to herself." He had already figured out that Nightmare would never be Katherine, and that Nightmare could never live up to the image of Katherine he had in his mind, but he was willing to see if Katherine still lived somewhere within Nightmare.


	10. Chapter 10

**Alrighty all I apologize again, super long chapter!**

**Thank you to forgottenforever for your awesome review!**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 10<span>

**Leonardo** tapped the card in his hand as he looked at the building he was standing in front of. It looked like an ordinary tailor's shop. There were mannequins modeling the suits and dresses obviously offered within, but the place looked closed and run down. There was however an OPEN sign leaning against the dirt encrusted window.

It had been two days since he had found his brother dead, and then had his brother brought back to life by the woman he loved and thought lost. His mind was still reeling and he felt unsure of himself. He still loved her, and was willing to see if Katherine was still within Nightmare somewhere. He just didn't know what he was going to do if she was, because he would rather share her than not have her, but it still hurt his heart that she could never be his and his alone.

"You sure this is the place Leo?" Raphael said in irritation. He looked over at his brother. Two days had done wonders for him. He looked rested and his colour was better than it had been in over 4 years. There was a spark in his eyes that had been missing ever since Katherine had died. He was still too thin, his cheeks too hollow, but he had begun eating with relish and training extensively to regain what weight and muscle mass he had lost.

It still gave him pain to look at his brother's scarred face and body, but Raphael didn't seem to care. His sole focus was upon convincing Nightmare that she belonged with them. His eyes scanned his other two brothers. Michelangelo was smiling again, and almost seemed like his old self, Donatello however looked troubled. Donatello was the only one who did not look well rested, and he couldn't blame him. He had tried talking to Donatello about what was going to happen to him, what Katherine had done to him, but Donatello had just brushed his concerns aside.

_"Leo." Donatello said looking at him seriously. "I wouldn't change what I did." He said softly. 'If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change anything." He had closed his eyes. "Maybe it's selfish. If she had have died right there and then, she wouldn't have been taken to Hell. She wouldn't have been tortured, killed or had her soul shattered. Looking back on it, I should have let her go, I should have died with her, but, I will never regret saving her. If this is my Fate, then I have to accept it with all of the composure and equanimity that Katherine accepted hers."_

He turned his attention back to the building they were standing in front of. The sign Celestial Tailors hung haphazardly over the door, the neon sign flickered to life every now and then. It was already full dark even though it was only just after dinner but the hours on the card had said it was open until 9:00pm. They were dressed heavily in winter clothes and wore scarves and sunglasses to hide their appearance.

"Yes, this is the correct address." He said in answer to Raphael's question. He lay his hand on the door and pushed.

A tiny bell sounded as the warmth of the shop hit him. He looked around the interior and found half filled racks of uninspired, cheap suits. "May I help you?" A wizened voice sounded from behind them.

Leonardo quickly turned and looked at the old man behind him. He was bent with age, his thin white hair sticking out at odd angles. He wore thick glasses over his eyes and wore a tape measure around his neck. He wore dark brown slacks and a spotless white, button up top.

Leonardo looked at the card in his hand. "We are supposed to ask for Tony." He said, his voice muffled by his scarf.

The old man's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Who sent you?"

"Az..." He began but Raphael interjected.

"Sam. Samael." Raphael corrected. Leonardo remembered then that demons had two names, because true names had power.

The old man's eyes opened in shock. "Right this way." He said beaming in delight. "I knew I was to expect four new customers, but I hadn't thought you would be here this soon. Come, this way." He said as he led them to the back of the store. They walked past the counter and though a narrow hallway filled with debris and racks of suits in plastic.

He placed his hand on the door. "Patefacio." He said as a golden circle appeared on the door. The door swung open and they entered a huge building filled with bright light and patrons who were looking through racks of pristine suits. Workers scurried to and fro grabbing suits, ties, shirts and vests, while other tailors were busy making measurements on perspective clients. Leonardo's eyes looked at the clientele and realized he didn't have to worry about their appearance being out of place.

"Wow, you have got to get me that name of your real estate agent. This place is much bigger than it looks on the outside." Michelangelo joked.

There appeared to various demons, and what he would classify as magical creatures walking around. There were both men and women being served by the various tailors. And he used the word tailors loosely. He watched as a centaur was fitted with a harness and saddle bags. A gorgon was trying on various wigs and sunglasses with partial success only having turned three of the tailors to stone while a third helped her on with another pair of darker tinted glasses. Emergency personnel were hauling away the other associates that had been turned to stone, and this didn't seem to bother anyone.

"Fitting into human society can be so trying. Oh and they'll be fine, we have healers on staff that will fix them up all right and tight don't you worry." The old man said to them, except in the moment he had been distracted the old man had become a stunningly beautiful one. He was taller than he was bordering on 6 feet, with a pale blue tinged complexion and waist length blue hair. His features had elongated giving him an elfin appearance.

"Are you a demon?" Michelangelo asked in confusion as he began unwrapping his scarf and taking off his hat and glasses. He and his brother's followed his example. Their outside clothing was suddenly whisked away by fast moving helpers of some sort.

"No no, though we do have a few demons on staff, not Hell demons you understand, but other demons act as security in case there are clients who...disagree with the staff on various points. My name is Lanark, I'm a sylph which is an air elemental, but sometimes humans classify me as a faerie as well, which is ridiculous. They obviously know nothing of the fae." He said with a smile. "And I know what you are thinking, what is an air elemental doing in a tailor shop? Well I am technically a host, a messenger if you will, a guide. I show creatures where they go, and I make sure everything stays orderly and there is no fighting. You would not believe the grudges some of these creatures carry. Thousands of years old and they can't all play nice in the same sandbox. Anyway, this is where we dress the magical creatures and lesser demons. But you, you, you have an appointment with Tony. Antonie only dresses the most important." He said happily.

"Hey Leo, remember how I was completely freaked out when we were transported to Darkness' Castle." Michelangelo said to him.

"Yes." He nodded distractedly as a beautiful woman fluttered past in a mass of light and airy scarves.

"I'm going to be freaked out again, aren't I?" He asked as the woman danced and slid through the floor.

"I think so Mikey." Leonardo said with a look at the floor.

"Spirits" Lanark said beside them said shaking his head. "So Samael sent you, He's got a lot of prestige and power in his position, as well as being a Prince of Hell, but I never really thought he had a thing for men, especially mortal men." He said with a raised brow. "But you can never tell with Hell demons. All of Hell's demons have been thrown into chaos ever since Lucifer was killed. Adjusting to the new regime I suppose. Unless." He stopped in his tracks as he studied them. "You have a small amount of magic within you...you couldn't be..." His eyes opened wide. "The goddess Nightmare." He stumbled a little. "You've caught my goddess' eye." He squeaked.

"Tony!" He shouted as he pushed through a throng of milling people waiting in an opulent, spacious parlour. Chairs and tables were set up around the room while servers walked around with trays of food and champagne.

Michelangelo grabbed a glass of champagne and downed it in a single gulp placing the empty glass on a table where it was efficiently whisked away. Leonardo looked at the various creatures who were now studying them. A woman with a cat head looked at him while a giant elephant took a tray in his massive trunk and swallowed the contents. A coyote was curled up in the corner, it opened an eye and decided to go back to sleep.

Leonardo took a step back bumping into Raphael as he did.

"What's your problem Leo?" Raphael hissed at him.

"Gods." He managed to say quietly.

"What?" Raphael asked.

Donatello looked at Raphael. "They're gods Raph. Well, a goddess, a god and a spirit to be exact." Donatello said quietly.

"Tony!" Lanark opened a closed door and a surprised shout was issued from within.

A goddess suddenly emerged. She was blonde haired and painfully beautiful. Luscious curved swayed in irritation. She looked upset. Lanark motioned for them to enter as they were glared at by various deities. Leonardo swallowed as he realized the full enormity of what they were getting themselves into.

"Come in, welcome, welcome, I hope Lanark has treated you with the utmost hospitality." The man who could only be Tony said with a smile. And when he thought man he really meant dwarf, as in and actual armour wearing, long bearded dwarf. His ginger hair was pulled neatly back, his beard braided into two braids. He looked about 30 ish with round features and a florid complexion. "You like?" He questioned as he showed off his armour. "I am working on a new design for some Valkyries. I know what you are thinking, dwarves are skilled metallurgists, we are known for our weapons, well all dwarves create, I just create wonders with fabric." The four foot tall red headed dwarf said to them.

"What should I do about Aphrodite?" Lanark asked in worry.

"Aphrodite can wait. She knows that it is all about priority, power and money. Now don't get me wrong, the goddess of love is mighty powerful, but the goddess Nightmare trumps her and actually pays her bills, unlike Aphrodite who I seem to recall, I had to send the Furies after her for not paying me for that delicious crimson confection of lace and..." He looked at them and coughed. "Anyway, if my goddess Nightmare says that these four are to be appropriately clothed and shod, then it shall be done. Clear my schedule and get me Aglaea, Euphrosyne and Thalia." He ordered Lanark who nodded and walked hurriedly from the room gently closing the door behind him.

A few moments later three beautiful women walked in. All three were blonde haired, blue eyed and looked like triplets.

"The three graces have clothed Aphrodite herself, and of course, Aphrodite is always splendidly attired. Now, what kind of attire was your Patroness interested in?" Antonie asked them.

They looked at each other in confusion. "Sam said it was a work date." Michelangelo said softly.

"Ahh a work date, splendid. Business formal, followed by the ability to dress it down if required." The dwarf clapped happily as the three graces began pulling at their clothes.

"Hey!" Raphael protested.

"I must see what I am dealing with." Antonie said to them as he began measuring Michelangelo. Antonie nodded as he began ordering bolts of fabric brought into the room along with shirts and ties. "Yes, I see it now, crisp dark grey suits, subtle coloured pin striping. The ninja masks must go of course. Yes, a modern take on the 1930's gangster.

He turned his attention to Donatello and sucked in a breath as he looked at Donatello's cuffs.

Antonie slowly reached out and touched one. "You must be highly favoured." He said in awe. Donatello blushed and looked uncomfortable as he pulled his wrists away. "I have never seen such a thing bestowed upon a mortal before. The protection spells surrounding it are very intricate and very powerful."

"Protection spells?" Leonardo asked.

Antonie was still transfixed by the cuffs. "I have never seen cuffs like that, forged from dragon scales." He said ignoring Leonardo's question. Antonie looked at them seriously taking in their confused looks. "Dragon scales, are incredibly rare."

"K...Nightmare used the plates from her gauntlets." Donatello said softly.

Antonie looked at him in surprise. "Those gauntlets are incredibly strong and immensely powerful. No wonder the protection spells are so well done. There is many a god who would like to get their hands on those gauntlets. They were forged with dragon scales in the very depths of Hell. That is the only place hot enough to turn dragon scales into something malleable enough to work with. The rumour is she forged them herself. It would explain the exquisite complexity of shielding and protection woven into the scales." Antonie said with a nod of his head as he turned his attention to measuring Donatello.

Antonie made a motion and fabric, pins, chalk and scissors began flying as the women ran around draping, pulling, cutting and pinning fabric.

Leonardo blinked as he was stripped, draped, pinned and attired in a dark grey pin stripped suit. The stripes were a bright intense cerulean blue. His shirt and vest were black and his tie was the same blue as the pin stripping of his suit. He looked at his shiny black shoes. They were more comfortable than they looked.

One of the graces tried to remove his mask, but he shook her off. "Nightmare wants the masks to stay." He said as one of the Graces placed a grey fedora with black band on his head.

He looked at his brothers all who were completely dressed in the same grey suit, but the colour of the pin stripping and ties were the same colour as their masks.

"I am very pleased." Antonie said happily as he surveyed his handiwork. "I suppose the masks do not ruin the look too much, but I know better than to argue with Nightmare." He said with a nod.

Michelangelo frowned and looked at a tag hanging from under his armpit. "What's this?" He questioned.

"The price." Antonie said with a shrug as he went about straightening Raphael's suit jacket.

Michelangelo made a odd gagging sound. Leonardo frowned at his brother and looked at the price tag under his own arm. His eyes widened in shock. It was a $100,000 suit.

He looked at Antonie wide eyed. Between the four of them, it would be $400,000. "Do you have anything...less expensive?" He questioned almost scared to move in case he ripped something.

Antonie looked affronted. "The quality and workmanship I have put into these clothes is second to none." He said with a sniff. "Nightmare has already agreed to the price and the payment has already been given." He smiled then. "I do so love dealing with Nightmare. She always pays upfront. She appreciates quality when she sees it, and never tries bartering down the final price." He looked at them with speculation. "You are very fortunate to have come under such obviously favoured patronage."

Raphael looked at Antonie. "What can you tell us about her consorts?" He asked casually.

Antonie laughed. "Wondering what sort of competition you are up against?" He asked as he waved his hand and the Graces began the process of pulling them out of the finely tailored suits and re-dressing them in their street clothes.

"Something like that." Raphael said with a shrug.

Antonie pulled on his beard. "You understand that all I have to go on is rumours, and most of the time they are more fiction than fact. No one really knows because the gods and sprits would be foolhardy to enter Hell, and Nightmare has Yggdrasil heavily warded, so no one really knows what is going on."

Raphael shrugged. "Humour me."

"Well, Samael is her first consort in Hell. Very efficient, lovely demon to deal with. Most of Hell's demons are horrid creatures, but Nightmare is cleaning Hell up rather nicely. As for what sort of relationship they actually have," He shook his head. 'I'm not sure. Some rumours have them together as lovers, and they have begun populating Hell with their offspring, others have it that they are hated rivals and that Azazel is planning to regain his lost throne by killing her." He shrugged.

"So she has the ability to take a lover if she wants?" Donatello questioned.

The dwarf frowned.

It was then Leonardo remembered that the reason Darkness or he supposed Goddess, had been under attack and nearly raped so many times was because for her, the first man she ever had sex with would become her husband, a man she would be bound to for eternity. He wondered then if Katherine, or Nightmare he supposed he should think of her, was under the same restriction?

"What did you guys think you were for?" Antonie asked in confusion.

Donatello jammed his elbow into Raphael's stomach as he opened his mouth.

"We've already shared her bed." Donatello said with a look at Raphael that told him to be quiet. "We were just wondering how many other men were sharing her bed as well."

Antonie chuckled. "Well, with gods you can never know. I hear Death has been sniffing around, and of course there is also Gabriel."

"Gabriel?" Leonardo asked in shock. "The archangel?"

Antonie nodded as he took a glass of champagne offered by one of the Graces. "He's been her consort almost as long as Azazel. He Fell for her, capital 'F'. He was sent to be the liaison between Heaven and Hell to broker the new Accords between Heaven and Hell, since Nightmare killed Lucifer and she became Morning Star."

"What are the Accords?" Donatello asked.

"The rules both Heaven and Hell have to play by. If one or the other breaks the Accords they go to war or have to offer up compensation. Usually the latter since having Heaven and Hell at war would not be good for either side." Antonie shrugged. "Anyway, Gabriel went to Hell and never went back to Heaven. She took him and made him her consort. Rumour has it that they are lovers as well, and that is why Gabriel Fell. But, now here is the thing, when Gabriel Fell, she did something to him so that he didn't become a devil, or a Fallen. She made him into some sort of creature imbued with magic. So Samael is consort to Morning Star, and Gabriel is consort to Nightmare." Antonie threw back the last of the champagne. "Now if you will excuse me, I musts see to my next client." He said with a cheerful smile. "The suits will be delivered tomorrow. Lanark will show you out."

Leonardo looked down at himself and realized he was fully clothed in his winter clothes again. Lanark was waiting for them at the door.

Lanark led them out through the hallway and ushered them out the front door. Leonardo looked at the shop. The sign now indicated it was closed.

"So...is there even a name for what we are?" Michelangelo asked.

"You mean about being kept men?" Donatello asked.

"Yeah Mikey, it's called bein a boy toy." Raphael growled. "When I get my hands on Sam again, I'm going to seriously kick his ass!"

"It's only rumour Raph, and besides, so what if it's true?" Donatello asked.

"What!" Raphael screamed. "It's bad enough I gotta share her with all of you, I am not sharing her with Gabriel, or Azazel and I don't even want to think how Death would fit into this."

"Raph...it's been nearly 2500 years." Donatello said softly. "We were lonely after 25 years, think of how lonely she would have been." Donatello said softly.

"You don't understand Donny." Raphael said softly his face in shadow. But Raphael wouldn't explain further.

Donatello looked at Raphael. "I don't think she has taken them as her lovers." Donatello said softly. But then Donatello suddenly stumbled.

"Donny!" Leonardo looked at his brother in concern. He had turned a pale grey colour.

"I need to just..." Donatello stopped talking and leaned over putting his hands on his knees.

"Are you okay?" Leonardo asked in concern. He looked at his brother his heart clenching in fear. He knew Donatello was dying, and knew he didn't have much time left.

Donatello shook his head. "Time." He said in horror.

"What are you talkin about Donny?" Raphael asked gently.

"She spent 2500 years in Hell, but it has only been a little less than 5 years here." Donatello whispered.

"We don't understand Donny." Michelangelo said as he placed a hand on his shoulder.

Donatello turned agonized eyes on them. He straightened and put his hands over his eyes. "It was her, it was actually her, in my dreams. I mean I knew I had figured it out, but I didn't realize. I couldn't understand why at times she knew who I was, and at other times, she didn't, but it was because it was bits and pieces of her soul being brought together, and she was always drawing. I should have figured it out. She was always drawing, but she was drawing and separating out what was her, and what wasn't, but if that was her and the memories were hers, then the image, what I saw..." Donatello shook his head in horror.

"Donny, you aren't making any sense." Leonardo said with concern.

"How long do you think She was in Hell being tortured for?" Donatello questioned. They shook their heads. "If we got there an hour after she had been killed, then how long do you suppose she was in Hell, if the almost 2500 years she was in Hell was less than 5 years here. Don't you understand, minutes here for us were probably decades in Hell."

"Donny." Leonardo put a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder as he tried to contain his own horror.

"I saw it Leo." He whispered miserably. "She was hanging from the ceiling, us beating and cutting at her flesh. But Leo, some of her injuries were healed, completely healed. She was a bloody scarred mess, but I could see the injuries that had healed." He said wretchedly.

They looked at each other as the true horror of what Katherine had gone through sunk in."Let's go home." Leonardo said as he pulled Donatello along. He looked at his pale brother.

"She's right, I don't know the first thing about pain." Raphael said miserably as he stumbled along the darkened street. Raphael shook his head. "I can't...I can't face her." Raphael whispered.

Michelangelo hit him up the side of the head. Raphael looked at his baby brother in shock. Michelangelo was pale and tears had already fallen down his cheeks, but there was a fierceness in his eyes that was so unlike him that they all stopped walking. "It's not your choice Raph, it's hers. You run away, then you will be worse than a betrayer, you'll be a coward." Michelangelo growled.

Leonardo blinked in shock and realized his baby brother was right. They could sit around and feel sorry for themselves because they failed to save her and feel miserable because of what happened to her, but at the end of the day, if wouldn't be about her, it would be about them.

Michelangelo turned and began walking again. He strode down the street but suddenly stopped. He put his hand up an motioned to be quiet. Suddenly Michelangelo ducked down the alley.

They silently followed.

"Friday at 5 corner of 65th and Bond. You sure, isn't that kind of early?" A gruff voice asked.

"Hun is wanting to get this job over and done with. The shipment is coming in at 16:50, where it will be your job to move the cargo to the designated area." A low smooth voice answered.

Leonardo ducked behind a garbage can and watched the two men.

He looked at his brothers grimly as they silently left the alley.

* * *

><p><strong>Michelangelo<strong> watched his two brother's argue.

"This is a bad idea Leo." Raphael growled.

It was late Friday afternoon. Leonardo and Raphael were fighting over whether to go and stop the shipment or not. Usually Raphael would be up for a fight, but he wasn't. He could see the anger in Raphael's eyes, but it was quieter than it had been. Time, grief, and depression had tempered Raphael in ways they probably hadn't even begun to understand. Leonardo almost looked glad to have Raphael to fight with again. Although they had fought often over the past 4 years, they had all known that Raphael's heart hadn't been in the fight. At the moment Raphael's heart was in the fight in more ways than one.

He watched as his brother's continued to argue. The problem was he saw the situation from both points of view. Leonardo wanted to stop the shipment, because whatever it was, if Hun wanted it, it couldn't be good. Raphael didn't want to be late for his date. At least that was his stance, the truth was that Raphael did not want to face the same group of criminals who had nearly killed him and taken his sight. Raphael was no coward and it was possible that if Raphael had kept up with some amount of training he would be willing to give a good sized amount of revenge, but Raphael hadn't. Raphael hadn't fought in any capacity for over a year, and had practically starved himself to death. He wasn't in any condition to take on anyone, let alone a gang of goons who had managed to almost take out both Raphael and Donatello.

"Leo, Raph," he said softly.

Both of his brothers looked at him in surprise. "Sam said not to keep the driver waiting, that means we have to beat the crap out of the Red Dragons and be back here in time to get ready and be waiting for the driver." He uncrossed his arms from where he had been lounging against the couch. Donatello was in his workroom furiously trying to find any little bit of information he could find on Familiars and demons.

"Mikey." Raphael growled.

"Falling and horses Raph." He said as Donatello stomped out of his workroom. He looked abstracted and frustrated.

"There is nothing," he grumbled. "I can't find any real information on exactly what a witches familiar is and does. And sure there is a ton of lore about demons, but none of it is helpful" He said in frustration. He began to pace back and forth as they all looked at him in concern.

Michelangelo felt his heart clench. Donatello had a choice, either he becomes a demon which may mean completely losing himself, or he dies. Michelangelo couldn't even contemplate the horror of that choice. At the moment he was hoping that Katherine would manage to somehow find a way to break the binding and save Donatello's life without making him a demon.

"Nightmare may figure out a way." Leonardo said softly.

Donatello blew out a breath. "I know Leo," he said. "But there is no information about what a Familiar actually _does_. They can be demons or faeries and they are supposed to protect and help the witch as they come into their powers. But it doesn't say anything else. That is it. Of course there is also nothing to tell me what I will become." He said softly. "I'm okay with it...but if we can stop what is happening and not kill me , then I'm not going to give up on that either."

Michelangelo walked over to his brother and gave his shoulder a squeeze. "Leo wants to go beat people up because he is feeling antsy about our date, wanna come?"

Donatello looked up at him and even smiled when Leonardo let out an affronted "Hey!"

Michelangelo had been curious about what had happened between Leonardo and Miriam. He supposed the fact that Leonardo had been willing to go out on a date with Katharine was most likely answer enough, but he could't actually ask his brother since Miriam was supposed to be a 'secret'. The only one who didn't know about her was Raphael and that was because after he and Donatello had followed Leonardo to Miriam's, they had thought it best not to confront their brother about her because word may get back to Raphael and that information may have had serious consequences.

Of course now they knew that Raphael had been suicidal for nearly 5 years. Raphael had been so sunk in the deepest depths of depression that there would have been nothing they could have said to him to make his depression any worse.

He had been devastated that Raphael had been willing to take his own life, and if Katherine hadn't beat the crap out of Raphael, he would have.

And so it was, that they were position overlooking a warehouse at 4:40 waiting for something to happen. He looked over at Raphael who was slightly pale and had a death grip on his sais. He could tell his brother was on edge. His face was tense, but focused. There was a spark in his eye that he had thought was gone for good.

"I hope we're going someplace with food." Raphael grumbled. Raphael's appetite had returned with a vengeance and he could almost hear Raphael's stomach growling. With starving himself for so long, Raphael didn't have the ability to eat large amounts at once, which meant he was almost constantly eating every couple of hours. After this Raphael would be starving.

Ten minutes later, right on time, a semi truck rolled up to the warehouse. The door opened and the truck rolled through the warehouse doors. It had been decided that they wouldn't attack the warehouse, but rather the truck that was going to leave the warehouse. Leonardo looked at Raphael and nodded. Raphael nodded back and slipped silently away. The plan was for Raphael to follow on his motorcycle. He was to follow in the truck. Donatello was to keep an eye on the warehouse and tell them the direction the truck was heading as well as make sure there weren't going to be any other surprises like extra backup following closely behind. Leo was going to follow on foot, keeping on roof level. He would follow in the truck.

Michelangelo followed Raphael as he headed for where they parked their vehicles.

He jumped in the truck and watched as Raphael put on his helmet. "You hear me Mikey?" He asked as Raphael's voice came into his headset.

"Loud and clear, Donny Leo you two there?" Michelangelo asked.

"Here Mikey, you had better get ready the doors are opening." Donatello said as Leonardo confirmed he too could see the white van that was pulling out of the warehouse.

Michelangelo started the engine and waited for directions from Donatello. Raphael suddenly took off and Michelangelo noticed the white van passing by him. He frowned because neither Donatello or Leonardo had said anything.

"Donny, Leo, what's going on?" Michelangelo said into his headset.

"There are multiple vans Mikey." Donatello said frustrated.

"One just went past me, Raph's gone after it." Michelangelo said as he put the truck into gear.

"Damn it Raph, what are you doing?" Michelangelo heard Leonardo shout.

"Gettin back on the horse." Raphael said.

Michelangelo stepped hard on the gas.

He heard Leonardo swear.

With Donatello's help he was able to get an idea of which direction the van was headed. They needed to get the van stopped before it either got to its destination, or before it got to a more populated part of the city. He decided to head the van off, gettig in front of it.

Michelangelo looked out his side window, seeign the truck come down a side alley he slammed on the brakes forcing the van to come to an abrupt halt. It looked as if the driver of the van had tried to lose Raphael, as he could see his brother just behind the van. The doors opened and goons began firing guns at his brother. It took a moment for the driver of the van to realize that he wasn't moving. The driver pulled out a gun and began firing at him. The bullets ricocheted off of the bullet proof glass and armoured siding.

His brother however was not so well protected. Raphael had ditched his bike and was using a dumpster as a shield.

"Leo! Raph's taking heavy fire, where are you?" Michelangelo yelled as Leonardo and Donatello landed on the roof of the van. Leonardo grabbed the surprised driver and hauled him out through the window while Donatello got a drop on the two firing from the back of the van. A shape loomed out from the back of the van hitting Donatello and knocking him to the ground.

Raphael jumped in and knocked one of the men unconscious. Leonardo had finished with the driver and was already helping Donatello and Raphael. They made short work of the three men in back and Donatello hopped into the driver's seat of the van.

Leonardo jumped in next to Donatello and Raphael managed to pick his bike up and fire it to life.

Michelangelo put the truck into reverse so his brother could drive the van out of the alley. Michelangelo followed and Raphael followed behind them.

They pulled into an abandoned parking lot and they congregated at the back of the van. They opened the doors and looked into the empty interior of the van.

Raphael punched the side of the van with his fist. "Damn it!" He swore.

Leonardo rounded on Raphael. "You were told to await my orders Raph, you weren't supposed to go after the van until I said so,"

"I saw the van I went for it. No one said that there was more than one van!" Raphael yelled back.

"Raph, you're bleeding." Michelangelo said as he watched his brother's jacket begin to turn red with blood.

Raphael looked down at his arm. "It's a scratch." He said with a shake of his head. "Let's get out of here." Raphael growled as he put his helmet back on his head. He angrily strode back to his bike and climbed on.

The bike roared to life. Leonardo looked like he wanted to argue, but couldn't. Leonardo stalked to the truck and got in.

The drive back to the lair was silent. Donatello looked distracted and Leonardo alternated between looking angry and worried.

Michelangelo looked at the clock. They weren't going to make it in time. It hadn't felt like they had been gone long, but according to the clock on the dash it was 6:56 pm.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

**Michelangelo** drove as fast as he could back to the lair. He pulled up to the entrance of the lair. They weren't exactly sure where the 'driver' was to pick them up, but they had assumed the driver would be outside the entrance they used to drive their vehicles in and out of the lair. But there wasn't so he continued on into the lair. He had figured that it was possible the driver would be inside the lair somewhere since Katherine did know where they lived. He supposed it was possible as well that the driver was just going to appear, much like thier suits had. One minute regular clothes in their closets, the next, very expensive suit hanging in said closet wrapped in one of those clothes bags.

"Do you think they left?" he asked his brothers as they got out of the truck. It was 7:21pm by the time they had reached the lair.

His brothers shook their heads. "Great, we stood up The Devil." Raphael grumbled as he tried to stomp off, but Donatello stopped him to have a look at his arm. A bullet had grazed Raphael's right forearm.

"This needs stitches Raph." Donatello pronounced. It was then they heard horses and the ground began to shake.

A gate ripped open in front of them as four pitch black horses with fiery eyes and flaming wings, manes, and tails burst through. The horses were pulling a large black coach with lanterns lit on the sides.

The driver pulled the horses to a halt. They stamped and protested, shifting in their traces.

The driver wore a black cloak and hood obscuring his face and body. The cloak looked shiny almost wet. It was then Michelangelo noticed his skeletal hands.

"She sent Death to pick us up?" Raphael asked in shock.

Donatello shook his head. "No scythe, no hour glass. I think it's Charon, the Ferryman who ferry's the dead over the river Styx."

Michelangelo looked at Charon. He didn't speak to them but Michelangelo got the impression that Charon was not pleased. "But we're not dead." Michelangelo said as he swallowed.

"If we keep him waiting any longer, that could change." Raphael grumbled. "And we still need to shower and change." Raphael growled as he took one more look at Charon who remained silently disapproving.

The horses stomped impatiently. Sparks shot out from under their hooves.

They were all ready within 10 minutes.

Raphael had bandaged up his arm and donned his suit like the rest of them. Charon paused outside of the door of the carriage and held out a skeletal hand.

"Donny, what does he want?" Michelangelo asked him in a confused whisper.

Donatello frowned for a moment. "We have to pay the ferryman." He said slowly.

"With what?" Michelangelo asked as he patted his pockets. They had money sometimes, gained usually from Donatello and his web designing skills, but they rarely used it except to buy food or gifts. Michelangelo frowned as he pulled a small black velvet bag from his pocket. He opened the velvet bag that was full of gold coins. Michelangelo closed the bag and gave the entire thing to Charon. Charon hefted the bag in his hand as if to test the weight of it. Michelangelo got the impression that Charon was a little more pleased than he had been a few moments ago.

"I don't think you were supposed to give his the whole bag." Raphael hissed.

Michelangelo shrugged. "We were late."

Charon opened the door of the carriage. The inside was all red plush velvet. The door was closed and the carriage moving before they had even seated themselves. Donatello and Raphael took the forward facing bench which left the backwards facing bench to Leonardo and himself.

There were blinds on the windows and Donatello pulled one up to look out.

"Where do you suppose Nightmare is?" Michelangelo questioned.

"I was pretty sure I said not to keep the driver waiting." Katherine said in an irritated voice.

Michelangelo blinked in shock. Gone was the carriage with the plush red interior. Now he was sitting on a black leather seat. The roof was lower but the space was now larger. He looked at Katherine in shock. She was sitting off to the side at the back of the vehicle. He and his brothers were all seated together on one bench seat facing a wet bar that took up the entirety of the opposite side of the vehicle. Michelangelo was facing the large tinted window. He could see flashing lights as they passed by crowds of people walking down the brightly lit sidewalks.

He looked back at Katherine who was lounging in the seat legs crossed a stack of papers in her hands. She was wearing a dress, but it looked like business attire, or rather, sexy secretary business attire. The dress was tight and mid thigh in length. It gave the impression that it was two pieces but was in fact really just one. There was a white blouse that showed just the right amount of cleavage, not too little, not too much, as well was a black skirt that started at just under her cleavage accented with a thin black belt. Her hair fell around her shoulders in pale white waves, the one streak of blood red wave lay against her left shoulder. Katherine looked human with the exception of the blood red angry eyes and opalescent skin.

They all looked at each other and back to her. She sighed and closed her eyes. "Well I suppose I am already late." She grumbled.

She froze and scented the air. "Someone is bleeding." Her skin began to glow, her blood red eyes turned a brilliant glowing emerald green.

He looked into her eyes and was caught. He tried to turn his head away from her gaze but he was unable to move and he could barely think. All he could do was watch her. Her eyes skimmed past him and focused on Raphael.

Michelangelo felt his will become his own again as Raphael looked at her transfixed. Suddenly she was kneeling in front of Raphael. She was closing her eyes, but she had his suit jacket off and his shirt rolled up his arm and the bandage was gone.

Her skin had stopped glowing. "You realize you are bleeding into a $100,000 suit?" She asked him casually as if whatever had happened hadn't.

Raphael seemed to shake himself out of his transfixion. He glared down at her angrily as she inspected his arm. "You were shot." She said in surprise.

Raphael pulled his arm away angrily. Or he tried to, but he couldn't get his arm out of her vice-like grip. "Are we free to talk?" Raphael growled.

Katherine looked up at him. She tipped her head to the side as she assessed Raphael's anger. She brushed her thumb against a sharp canine . Blood welled up and she brushed it along Raphael's wound. Raphael's wound closed up so completely it didn't even leave a scar.

Raphael looked at his arm and rolled down his slightly bloodied sleeve.

Katherine was back in her seat and looking at them as if she had never moved in the first place."You are free to talk. This vehicle is heavily warded." She said with a wave of her hand. Blue glowing sigils appeared over every surface of the interior of the vehicle.

Raphael was off his seat and angrily pinning Katherine to the back of her seat. Eyes narrowed, teeth clenched, he angrily held her by the shoulders. "So what are we to you Katherine, a bunch of new boy toys?" He asked angrily. "We know Azazel and Gabriel are your consorts, are they more than just your seconds in command?"

Katherine looked at him steadily. "Boy toys, hmmm, yes I suppose Mistresses just doesn't work does it?" She said flippantly.

Bright red lights lit the interior of the vehicle somehow illuminating all of the scars on Katherine's face. Some were small, others were large and all now glowed with a gruesome intensity that made his breath hitch in horror.

Raphael stumbled back as the moment passed. "To answer your question, no. I love both Gabriel and Azazel, but neither of them has shared my bed. I am bound by the restrictions that Goddess was bound to. It has to do with me being bound to the Nightmare godhede and that world. The first man I have sex with will become my Consort, my husband." She said softly as she looked at Raphael who was looking grey.

"How long?" He asked wretchedly.

"How long...?" She questioned.

"How long were you in Hell Katherine?" Donatello asked softly.

"Be more specific." She said to Donatello.

"How long did you run from Lucifer in Hell?" Donatello asked succinctly.

"Ahh. Let me see. Azazel managed to keep Katherine hidden for 23 years, 4 months, and 10 days. Hell time." She said to them.

Michelangelo felt the blood drain from his face. "Twenty three **years**?" He said in a strangled voice he barely recognized as his own.

Katherine nodded. "Ironic. She actually lived in Hell, a place for the dead, longer than she actually lived on Earth, a place for the living."

Michelangelo looked at his brothers who were all pale and looked miserable and speechless.

"How long did they...were you...?" Leonardo couldn't even ask the question.

"How long did they torture her before they killed her?" Katherine asked Leonardo.

Leonardo was a sick shade of grey green. He nodded once.

Katherine shook her head. "I'm not going to tell you that. Probably ever." Katherine said seriously. "If I say 6 years, it is 6 years too long; If I say five minutes it will still be five minutes too long. There will never be an amount that will make what happened any easier to bear."

"Katherine." Raphael said in anguish.

"No Raphael. That subject will remain closed until I deem it worth knowing." She said to him. "All you need to know is that she never broke, and she loved you until she breathed her final breath. She was stronger than any mortal had the right to be." She said softly. "Some things need to stay buried in the past, in another life." Katherine said seriously.

She crossed her arms over her chest a half smile appeared on her face. "You would have a problem being a kept man Raphael?" She questioned. Raphael looked at her in surprise as if trying to follow her question. "I don't know, sounds like a pretty good gig." She said as she lay down on her back on the seat. She looked over at them and winked. "So let me get this right." She said holding up her hand. "You are late." She ticked off a finger. "You accuse me of not only playing with you, but actually keeping other lovers on the side, and now you have sunk yourselves into a guilt filled gloom." She finished ticking points off with her fingers. "So far, worst date ever." She said turning her head so she looked at them.

Michelangelo found himself standing up and walking over to her. He knelt down and looked at her seriously. He reached out and touched the left side of her face gently.

Suddenly everything made sense. Katherine talked about old Katherine in the third person because it was the only way she could deal with what had happened to her. If she accepted herself as Katherine, she would break because it was too much. She could live with it if it happened to someone else. He felt the stirring of guilt but squashed it down. Guilt was what He felt, not her. If he let himself waste any more time on his guilt, it would then be all about Him, and he couldn't do that to her.

The important thing at the moment was that she was there with them, and he wasn't going to waste the chance she had given them. "So, what is the plan?" He asked casually. "Where are you taking us?" He asked her in a questioning voice.

Katherine smiled mischievously.

She sat up as the car rolled to a stop. "Oh and masks off." Katherine said as Michelangelo reached up and pulled off his mask. He was surprised at the request but obeyed anyway, tucking his mask into his front pocket. His brothers did the same. The door opened and Katherine slid gracefully from the seat, placing her hand in the gloved hand of the driver. They emerged onto a brightly lit overhang of what looked like a hotel. A very posh and expensive hotel. Michelangelo looked back at the driver who was an older man with a white beard. He looked respectable if a little on the thin side. He wore a black suit, white gloves and a chauffer's hat. Michelangelo looked back at the vehicle and his eyes took in the black SUV limo that sat idling.

"Pull around back Charon." Katherine said with a smile as Charon tipped his hat and walked back to the driver's side.

"Welcome to Sin City boys." She said with a smile.

They took a step back in horror as he realized that although their appearance was mostly hidden, the bright lights of The Strip would reveal that they were not exactly human, especially with the brightly lit interior of the hotel.

"Trust me, it's Vegas." She said with a smile. "And since we are late and Raphael needs to eat even though his stomach is still filled with too much guilt at the moment, we will see what we can dig up."

She strode through the double doors which were opened by two doormen. They had no choice but to follow, the two doormen didn't even look their way.

They followed Katherine into the massive lobby of the hotel. She strolled through as if she owned the place. Katherine walked right up to the woman working the front desk. Katherine smiled, but it was the type of smile that didn't reach her eyes.

Michelangelo's eyes took in the richly appointed lobby. Gold velvet chairs and couches were strewn about here and there. The floors were black marble accented with gold star designs. There was a massive fountain in the center of the lobby which seemed to be of a long haired woman carved out of white marble. She was holding a hand of cards behind her back with her right hand and a gold coin between her index and middle fingers in her left hand.

"Is Bastian in?" She asked lightly.

The woman looked at her with a furrowed brow. "He is currently awaiting a very important guest. May I leave a message?" She inquired pleasantly.

"Tell Bastian that I have arrived, but am...touring the facility." She said with a menacing smile. She turned and left the apparently speechless woman who had turned several shades too pale.

"Let's get you four something to eat." She said happily as she made her way through the lobby to what looked like a fine dining restaurant.

They were immediately seated in a quiet corner in a circular booth. They had a good view of the live band which was playing nice, soothing dinner music.

The waitress came up and handed them four menus. Katherine sat back and watched their stunned expressions when the waitress never batted and eye.

"Do you wish to order a drink to start?" She asked them.

"Ice water for me." Katherine said to the waitress.

Leonardo coughed and ordered a green tea, Raphael ordered a beer, Donatello ordered a coffee and he ordered a glass of ice wine, on Katherine's recommendation.

In short order the waitress brought the drinks around and asked if they wanted to order.

Michelangelo had opened the menu, but everything seemed to be written in a different language, and he hoped the numbers on the sides weren't the prices because he had spent less on brand new video games.

"Just order whatever you want." Katherine said to them as they looked at her blankly. Katherine sighed and pointed to Raphael. "He'll have a t-bone steak medium rare, with a baked potato, all the fixings with a side of mixed vegetables." She pointed to Leonardo. "He'll have the sushi combo," she nodded to Donatello. "Grilled chicken with garlic mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables and," She finally pointed to him and paused. "Pizza? You can have anything you want and you want pizza?" She asked him. "From the looks of things you guys have been eating nothing but crap, but fine. A Margarita pizza, a real one, and an Greek salad." The girl nodded, collected their menus and left.

They were staring at her with opened mouthed shock. She rolled her eyes. "I wasn't reading your minds. I just picked your favourites and went with it." She said with a smile.

"Aren't you eating?" Michelangelo asked her.

"She doesn't eat food Mikey." Leonardo said softly.

"Very astute Leonardo." She said with a smile. "You are correct I don't eat...human food." She said with a nod.

"You are like Darkness." Leonardo said to her.

"Hmmm, debatable I suppose, but there are parts of me that are like her." She said.

Michelangelo frowned. "I'm confused." He said.

She tipped her head to the side and looked at Leonardo. "My body is vampiric. The only thing it can consume is blood." She said with a shrug. "I suppose that is the one of the few things I have in common with Darkness. I believe I have more in common with Goddess. I read up on both of that world's...counterparts, when I began searching through my godhede's memories." She said carefully.

Michelangelo realized that she was telling them that it was not a safe place to openly talk about who she really was. "My body is mortal, but is comprised of Werefox, Werelynx, Wyvern, dragon and living vampire. That is a lot of Hunger to manage." She said seriously. "If you would like, we will talk more about this later, but right now I believe your food has arrived." She said as they turned and watched as two waiters each carrying two plates. Well technically, three plates and a wooden boat, and placed the plates in front of them.

A man came up after the waiter's had seen to it that they didn't need anything else. He was immaculately dressed in a black tux. He was slightly plump with thinning dark hair. He wore a jovial smile. "How is everything this evening?"

Katherine had her hands cupped around her glass of ice water, which was rapidly beginning to melt and stream. She smiled. Raphael was already wolfing down his steak with gusto, Leonardo was looking over his boat of sushi, Donatello was looking at Katherine, and he was watching everyone else.

"Very good..." Katherine paused as she tipped her head to the side in thought. "Arnold right?"

"Yes...Miss." He said slightly surprised.

"Wonderful job Arnold, I know you have already gotten orders to see to it that we are a priority, but I believe you are doing very well at running this fine dining restaurant."

"Thank you Miss. Gentlemen." He said with a slight bow as he moved off.

It was then that he realized that Katherine still looked only 21 years old. She was lucky she wasn't ID'd at the door. As for them, they were nearly 5 years older than her when they met her, now they were nearly 10 years older. In a few months they were all going to be 31. Which made him feel old. Only, he knew she was so much older than they were, she just looked younger.

He shook his head as he looked at his piece of pizza dubiously. It had tomatoes and some sort of green something, possibly basil and a few other green spices, and no cheese. He picked up a slice and bit into the best piece of pizza he had ever eaten.

"Depending where you go in Italy, each region varies, but, they don't put cheese on their pizzas, and yet very delicious, or so I am told." Katherine said with as shrug and Michelangelo finished his pizza off in a record amount of time. Katherine signalled to the waitress to get him another pizza and he managed to wolf this one down just as fast, attacking his greek salad last.

Raphael's plate was clean, Donatello's looked half eaten and Leonardo looked as if the boat had beaten him and he was too full to eat any more.

Michelangelo was certain that they hadn't talked throughout the entirety of dinner. "You must have been hungry." Katherine observed. Raphael blushed.

"Sorry Kitten." He said softly then his face froze in horror as he looked at her.

"So, tell me how you were shot Raphael, Red Dragons again?" She asked not giving any indication one way or the other how she felt about Raphael's slip.

"Why isn't anyone staring at us?" Leonardo asked suddenly. "It may be dim in here, but people would have to be blind not to notice what we are." Leonardo said as he looked at her.

She tipped her head to the side and assessed him. "Still ever the confrontational one, aren't you Leonardo?" She smiled. "But if you want to know, I suppose I shall show you." She said as she stood. She threw some money down on the table as the waitress bustled over. Michelangelo looked at Katherine's water which was empty, but he was positive she hadn't taken a sip.

"Thank you very much for visiting. Please come again." The waitress said with a wavering smile.

Katherine laughed. "We shall see how things go. Is that our bill?" She asked looking at the discrete black bill holder in her hand.

"No, of course not." She said horrified. "Mr. Bastian has picked up the tab."

Katherine nodded. "Thank you...Sheila." She said after a moment's thought.

None of the staff were wearing name tags. Sheila paused but nodded. Katherine led the way out of the restaurant and into the casino. People were bustling here and there. There were loud ringing noises and shouts. Waitresses with drinks threaded their way through the crowds.

Katherine grabbed a large cup and gave him a quarter. "Would you like to go one on one with Lady Luck?" She questioned pointing to a statue of a woman in a flowing dress holding a Chinese coin and had a four leaf clover in her hair. There was a tortoise at her feet as well as a horseshoe.

Michelangelo looked at the machine. Leonardo took the coin away from him. "No gambling." He growled.

Katherine assessed Leonardo but shrugged as she pointed to a wall of mirrors. Michelangelo looked at the human that stared back at him. He walked up to the mirror.

A man, a handsome, blonde haired, brown eyed man, stood looking back at him. He looked at the images of his brother's. From what he could see of Donatello's hair it was a wavy dark rich brown, that was slightly long. His eyes were a darker brown than his, which he had always known, but the difference was even more dramatic in a human face. Donatello was handsome as well. His eyes moved to Leonardo whose hair was chin length and black with dark blue highlights. His eyes were almost black they were such a dark brown. He was handsome, but looked older than either he or Donatello, as if worry had cut deeper lines into the skin around his eyes.

His eyes finally settled on Raphael whose hair was the longest reaching his shoulders. It was pure white. His honey brown eyes looked out from a handsome face that was still too thin.

"Turn us back." Leonardo growled softy.

"To what?" She questioned. "It is a glamour Leonardo. Although technically, if you ever wanted to know what you would look like as a human. That is it. Well, except Raphael's hair was a reddish brown, but stress and grief have turned it white. And I didn't perform it. The glamour is in the suits. Why do you think they were so expensive?" She asked. "Antonie even gave me a discount." She said with a shake of her head. "Granted the suits alone are beautifully tailored, but it is the magic woven into the fabric that makes it expensive. You are wearing pure fairy silk. Very rare, which is why I get a discount because I supply Antonie with the raw silk which he then gets spun into fabric that mimics the different thickness, texture and look of other fabrics. Take off the suit and people will see what is really there." Katherine tipped her head in thought as her gaze caught something in the mirror. "Oh, but don't touch me because even faerie glamour cannot stand up against my touch. It also allows you to see what is true. Like those two thugs in black heading towards us." In the mirror they looked like non-descript guys in suits who were more muscle than brains. Turning to face them Michelangelo managed to get a glimpse of a black skinned demon before the image of a thug replaced it.

"High class demons. The spell is trying to let you at least glimpse what is beneath the illusion." Katherine said as she pasted a smile on her face. "Down to business I am afraid." She said with a long suffering sigh.

"Mister Bastian extends his most humble wishes for you to join him upstairs." Thug #1 said with a slight bow.

"How gracious of him." Katherine said with a smile. "Lead the way." She motioned.

Thug #1 led the way while Thug #2 brought up the rear. They were escorted through a side door that led down a service hallway that eventually opened up into a sumptuous office lobby. It was done in the same black marble flooring, but the furniture was done in rich reds and golds. They were escorted to an elevator and the top floor was selected with a password and key code access.

They exited the elevator and walked past a buxom blonde secretary who waved them to proceed through the black double doors behind her.

Thug #1 opened the doors and waved them in staying outside and gently closing the doors behind them.

The office was done in ultramodern furniture and furnishings. It was done in monotone blacks and whites with red accents here and there. A computer sat on a glass desk and another group of thugs lounged around on contemporary black and white leather sofas.

Michelangelo counted 10 goons who stood as they entered. The atmosphere was charged with barley restrained violence. His hands automatically went for weapons he did not have. "Hello Baёl." Katherine said cheerfully.

The man behind the desk was looking out the window at the view of the Las Vegas night life. He turned and looked at Katherine. His eyes flicked to the rest of them and then turned his full attention back to her. He was slightly over 6', mid thirties, built, with white blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. His face was handsome, but in a harsh way, being made up of hard planes and angles.

Katherine sat down at the desk opposite of where the man named Baёl stood. He looked down at her, paused, then took a seat opposite her.

"To what do I owe this...honour...Morning Star?" He asked in a deep rumbling voice.

"Oh good you do know who I am." She said with a smile. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to educate you on who I was. After all, I know you have been absent from Hell for the last 50 years, I wasn't sure how out of the loop you would be."

"I make it my business to be regularly apprised of the goings on in Hell." He said softly.

Katherine nodded with a smile. "Well that should make this a lot easier." Michelangelo wasn't sure what it was in her expression that changed from open and friendly to deadly serious, because she was still smiling, but whatever it was, the tension in the room rose drastically. "You see the last time I checked, you worked for me. You manage this and seven other hotel and casino's, while I own them." Katherine's voice took on a dangerous edge.

Michelangelo felt himself thrown against the wall by one of the goons in the room. His brothers were beside him and all had guns trained on them.

"Dimitto!" Baёl said as he held out his hand.

"You cannot exorsize me Baёl." Katherine said as she brought out a sheaf of papers from a briefcase that he was pretty sure hadn't been with her when they had entered the room.

If she was at all concerned about what was happening to them, she didn't show it. "Now, according to my accountants you seem to have been stealing quite a bit of money from me. More specifically Lucifer, but as he is gone and all of his assets belong to me, you have then been stealing from me." She said in a matter o' fact voice.

Baёl stood menacingly. Hands palm down on the desk. "I have built this casino from nothing. I have worked here for fifty years and have never taken what I did not think I was owed." He snarled. "You are nothing but a young upstart god who managed to get lucky and kill Lucifer while he was weak." Baёl growled.

Katherine continued as if he had not spoken. "That said, I have been looking into, and have noticed, that you and your demon's have not had a raise in 50 years." Baёl blinked at her in shock. "With the rate of inflation and the back pay I figure is owed to you, I shall forgive you the funds that have ended up in your own pockets." She handed him a thick wad of papers. "I am giving you and your staff a significant wage increase as well as giving you part ownership of the Maltese."

Baёl slowly sat down as he looked at the thick stack of paper. "All I need is your signature. You may give the documents to my Lawyer when you find the time." She closed the briefcase which was sitting on her lap and it vanished. "Now if you will excuse me. I am enjoying a night out." She said with a smile.

Baёl looked at his goons who all stepped back and put away their guns. "Is there anything else Baёl?" She asked sweetly. Baёl seemed to pale. "Ahh yes, well, since you are partial owner of the casino I believe I will overlook you claiming the entire top floor as your own personal living quarters as well."

Baёl gave a panicked look to his goons. "Don't worry, they are safe and sound and I believe quite eager for your company." Katherine said with a smile. "I do not threaten innocents." She said darkly. "I have no need."

She turned but paused at the door. "But Baёl," She threw over her shoulder. "If you ever steal from me, or threaten me or anyone I am with again, I will kill you, and when you reform in Hell I will rip out your spine, crush your screaming skull beneath my foot like an egg, and eat your soul down like a piece of chocolate." She said happily."Now, I'll show myself out." At this parting shot Katherine walked out of the door. Michelangelo followed her out, his head swimming.

"You're scary as hell Kitten, and yet I'm oddly turned on at the moment." Raphael said.

Katherine chuckled.

Leonardo grabbed Katherine's arm angrily. "We could have been killed." Leonardo hissed.

Katherine pulled out of his grasp. "How?" She questioned.

"They had guns. You might be immortal but we aren't" Leonardo said angrily.

Katherine sighed. "Leonardo, I would not let anything befall you when you are in my presence."

Leonardo looked at her as too many emotions warred for dominance on his face, but he finally nodded.

Katherine looked at them. "The suits you are wearing were made by a dwarf." She said softly.

"Who are renowned for their armour making abilities." Michelangelo said in shock.

Katherine nodded. "Faerie silk and metal woven together and bound. Faeries do not like iron, but the silk they make isn't affected by the metal. "You are essentially wearing a full suit of battle armour that will stand up to bullets and most explosions. That is also why there are protective spells woven into the fabric as well, in case of explosions."

"Now." She said softly as she walked into the elevator. "It is about 7:00 which means that the fight is just about to start."

"Fight?" Raphael asked. Katherine nodded. "Ice Cold has decided to come out of retirement and is facing off against the Freemason in Event room 4. There is a Future Technology exposition in Event room 2, a Phil Hartman, the illustrator of the Golden Sentry comics autograph session in conference room 3, and master sword smith, Junata Yoshi, performing a demonstration on ancient Katana forging techniques."

"You're joking." Raphael said in shock.

"Well, the Maltese is the biggest, most exclusive and expensive hotel and casino in Vegas. We only book the best." She said with a shrug. "Go on." Katherine said with a smile. "I'll catch up in a bit, Raphael and I will watch wrestling for a bit and I will find you. Oh and Michelangelo," Katherine held out a comic for him. "Here." She said as he looked at the first edition Golden Sentry she placed in his hand. It had been lost when they had run from Katherine's house over 4 years ago.

He looked at her in shock as she watched Raphael and her turn and begin walking towards a sign that indicated where all of the events rooms were.

* * *

><p><strong>Raphael<strong> took Katherine's hand and helped her into the Limo. He looked at the heels she was wearing and still marvelled that she could even stand in them let alone walk in them.

Raphael climbed in after her letting his brothers follow. They all chatted happily on the way home each of them telling the others what it was that they had seen. Katherine had watched part of the match with him, and then told him that she was going to go check on his brothers. He had smiled at her and then she was gone. He hadn't seen her for the rest of the night until the match was over and they met up in the lobby area at the end of the night. Raphael had wanted to continue with the evening, it only being a little past midnight, but he found he was tired.

He let the voices of his excited brothers drift around him. Even Leonardo was smiling. He looked younger when he smiled. Raphael felt his eyes close and they didn't open again until Donatello gently shook him awake."We're home Raph." His brother said to him gently.

He looked around the plush red velvet interior. He could smell sulphur and horse. He was back in the carriage they had started out in. He looked around for Katherine but she wasn't in the carriage.

His eyes widened in shock. "She got off in Hell, or rather she just sort of vanished." Michelangelo said to him.

"So is she coming back or not?" He growled as he exited the carriage. Charon whipped up the horses and tore through a Hellgate which opened and closed behind him.

"I'm not sure Raph, she never said." Leonardo said softly. Raphael studied his elder brother. He was more relaxed and looked more like himself. Leonardo noticed his eyes on him. "She's not the same." He said softly. "But I can see glimpses of Herr."

"Are you still scared of her Leo?" He questioned his brother.

His brother looked at him seriously. "Only a fool wouldn't be." He said as he turned to walk to his room.

"G'night." He said to his brothers as he wearily dragged himself to his room.

He undressed and hung the suit up in his closet. He fell into bed but found that even though he was exhausted he couldn't sleep.

The soft smell of flowers drifted over to him.

"Come to bed Kitten." He said softly.

"I don't sleep." She answered him.

"Try." He said softly as he held the blankets up for her. He could just make out her wings, blackness against the darkness of his room. Raphael remembered the other Raphael's biting remarks to the other Lucifer. _'I see you came dressed as the Devil today'_. Katherine could make herself look human if she wanted, but it seemed as if she didn't mind her appearance.

"I don't even know why I'm here." She whispered.

"Because you belong with me." Raphael replied. He decided to talk to her to try to distract her to keep her with him, even if she didn't take his invitation to sleep with him."Is the lair warded?" He asked her.

"Yes, warded and protected from the supernatural and divine."

He nodded. "So why didn't you...I don't know, smite that guy or something?" Raphael asked carefully.

"Just because I can kill someone, does not mean I should." She said simply. "Baёl has lived on Earth for 50 years. He is not possessing someone, he is in his own human body, which...it means he is essentially more human than demon. Even though he knows he is a demon and even though he still has a small amount of powers in his human form, it has been 50 years earth time, which is roughly the equivalent to almost 10,000 years in Hell. Time in Hell is wave-like. It slowly gains momentum and speeds up only to slow down again. I am trying to stabilize it and change time so that it moves within the same time as Earth. But it is taking me time. Anyway, even though it has only been 50 years here, Hell still acts upon him, so it feels like he has literally been here forever. And his wife and two children live in the hotel with him."

She paused and continued. "Baёl is one of the smarter demons. He discovered long ago that a demon running a crime ring was redundant. But there is a lot of money in the criminal underworld, and as long as you have a little class, they are always welcome at the Maltese. Of course this means he has many underworld contacts, but all of my casinos are legit through and through."

He looked at her. He tried not to think about that fact that she was The Devil. She was occupying the position of The worst force of evil out there. And yet...

"He has a wife and kids?" He asked in shock.

"Yes, Samantha and their two children Ryven and Rachel. 1 and 12 respectively. Half demons as Samantha is human. He'll have his hands full with those two. And I suspect I will receive a visit from Baёl soon in order to find a way to stop damning his wife's soul."

"What do you mean?"

"To keep his wife young, he has been using his abilities as a demon to grant her youth and immortality. She should be in her 40's by now, I suspect, but she looks 25. To do this he damns her soul a little more each time he grants her youth and immortality . That will be a sticky mess, but I am sure I will think of something."

He looked at her in shock. "He loves her." He said in shock. "But he's a demon."

"Just because he is a demon now, doesn't mean it was what he once was. Many a god and spirit was relegated to Hell by Christianity. Anyway, it all starts with the top. Azazel learned to love, learned to feel the scope and range of human emotions. And as he was the first ruler of hell, it has begun to trickle down through Hell's demons."

"So you are changing Hell?" He asked.

She paused. "No, not really. Hell still functions as it is supposed to, more...I am changing the residents of Hell." She said softly.

He nodded slowly as another thought struck him.

"Are you hungry?" He whispered.

"I don't need to eat." She said to him.

He nodded but paused. She hadn't answered his question. It seemed as if she had, but she hadn't. He closed his eyes. She couldn't lie, just like Darkness.

"But you're hungry." He said softly.

She sighed. "I Hunger." She said.

The way she said hunger sounded as if it had a Capital 'H'.

"Sleep well Raphael." She said to him closing the subject.

"I will." He said as he closed his eyes and fell into a dreamless, heather scented sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>Such a long chapter, but I didn't want to break it up into two parts, so I apologize!<strong>

**Things are goingto start going in the next few chapters, I hope everyone enjoyed!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Just wanted to give a shout out to Griffon of the Night for your continued support! =)**

**And now on with the show...**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 12<span>

**Raphael** looked around his room when he awoke. He was alone. He hadn't really expected her to stay, but he could not let the tinge of disappointment from coursing through him. He yawned and got out of bed. It was around noon. He felt his stomach begin to growl. He remembered then, Katherine's answer from last night. 'I Hunger' She had said. This thought made him shiver a little. There was something about the way she said it that he got the impression that there were multiple hungers at work. He shook his head and got dressed before leaving his room to find some food.

He walked into the kitchen where he found Casey and April sitting at the table with his brothers.

"Morning." he grumbled.

"So, how was your date Raph?" Casey asked curiously.

He looked at his brothers and shrugged. "She'll be back." Raphael said as he walked over to the fridge and decided what to have for breakfast.

He cooked some bacon and eggs, grabbed a glass of orange juice and sat down at the table.

"I don't know Raph, most chicks don't disappear at the end of a _good_ date." Casey observed.

Raphael grunted as he shoved more food into his mouth.

"Is she still the same Donny?" April asked.

"Yes." Raphael answered with conviction as he jammed another fork full of eggs into his mouth.

Donatello looked at him. "Well she isn't...the same, no." Donatello shook his head.

"Yes she is Donny." Raphael growled as he stood up.

Donatello frowned at him. "Raph, she isn't the same, but that doesn't mean she isn't _her_.She was..." Donatello paused.

"You can talk Donny, Kitten's warded this place against all of the spiritual, supernatural baddies." Raphael said as he finished off his breakfast and put his dishes in the sink.

Leonardo frowned at him. "When did she tell you that Raph?"

"Last night, after I went to bed. She popped by for a visit." He said softly as he sat back down in his chair. "You're right Donny. She isn't the same, but I guess that makes sense after what she went through, but considering what she could have done, and what she is doing..."

He looked at his brother's confused looks. Leonardo looked confused and jealous. "She only stayed for a bit, I think. I don't know, I fell asleep, but I talked to her for a few minutes." He said softly. "Anyway, she could have killed Baёl. Could have killed his family, could have done any number of horrible things to him, and I don't think her threat was an idle one. She will kill if she needs to, but if she doesn't have to, she won't. She's changin' Hell. She's making the demons more...human I guess. Well actually Sam is technically." He said with a shrug.

Leonardo slowly nodded. "So she's grown up. Become the woman she would have been."

"With the added bonus of ruling Hell. Interesting career choice." Michelangelo put in.

April frowned. "You know you guys are way out of her league right? It sounds as if this could be dangerous for you."

Red lights and alarms began blazing. Raphael and his brother's jumped up in surprise. Donatello ran to his workroom.

He began furiously typing at his keyboard. "The outer perimeter alarm has been tripped."

Smoke suddenly began filling the lair. Raphael covered his mouth as he began coughing. His vision went blurry and his eyelids felt too heavy. He felt himself fall.

* * *

><p><strong>Leonardo<strong> blurrily opened his eyes. He could feel that his arms were over his head and bound together with something.

"Well look who's decided to wake up." A deep voice rumbled close to his ear. His eyes focused upon the scarred face of Hun who was talking to Raphael. "You don't look so good, but then I thought for sure you were dead, so I suppose you look pretty good for a dead turtle." He sneered.

Leonardo's eyes took in his surroundings. He was chained up against a wall. Raphael was beside him. Michelangelo and Donatello were chained up to a metal wall opposite from them. They appeared to be in a warehouse of some sort. The buzzing of fluorescent lights filled the air. He had no idea how long they had been unconscious for. He struggled against the steel that bound his wrists.

Hun chuckled, turned and punched him in the jaw. Leonardo could feel the fuzzy blackness of unconsciousness trying to pull him back down.

"I was tempted to just kill you while you lay unconscious, but what fun would that be?" Hun asked as he shifted and punched Raphael in the gut.

"The empty van." Leonardo said as he spat out some blood.

"The empty van." Hun said with a vicious smile. "There was no shipment, but I needed something to lure you out. You had been oddly quiet of late. I should have know that the red one managed to survive and that you were just recovering, but my scouts saw you one night, just three turtles running on the rooftops. My scout lost you, but then I had a plan. My forces covered the city spreading rumours of a shipment. We set up a time and a place and all we had to do was wait. You aren't the only ones with access to tracking devices. It was so easy to slip one onto your truck while you were distracted. It was simple after that to force our way into where you were hiding and then the knock out gas. Simple, effective and easy."

Donatello groaned in pain. Donatello didn't look very good. He was pale, sweating and shaking slightly.

"Donny?" Michelangelo asked in worry.

"I told you idiots not to rough them up too much on the way." Hun growled.

There were 7 other Red Dragons armed with guns, all of which were trained on them. Raphael looked around.

"Where's April? Where's Casey?" He asked in panic.

"Your human friends are enjoying my hospitality as well. You see ,I couldn't just leave them after all, they would have somehow found a way to rescue you. I'm even going to be merciful and let them go once you have suffered enough and are dead." Hun said with a self satisfied grin.

Raphael pulled angrily at his bonds. "I don't believe you." He sneered. "I want you to prove to me that they are safe."

"Heh. Fine." He pulled out a phone. "If it will make your death's easier." He dialled a number and put it on speaker phone.

"Guys?" A frightened voice asked.

"April, you okay?" Leonardo asked worriedly into the phone.

"I'm fine." April said.

"April took a nasty tumble. She tripped and fell." Casey's worried voice cut in.

"I'm fine." April snapped. "Are you okay?" She asked, worried.

Hun closed his phone with a snap. "See, safe and sound." Hun tucked his phone into his pocket, walked over and elbowed Michelangelo in the stomach.

"When I get out of this..." Raphael growled pulling against his manacles.

Donatello made a muffled cry of pain.

Leonardo frowned and looked up at his wrists. His eyes widened. There was a table between them with various blades, prying tools, hammers as well as a few other objects he couldn't identify. There was a tarot card, one of the ones given to them by Katherine and Donatello's cuffs. "On no. Donny!" He cried in panic as Donatello began to scream in agony.

Hun walked up to Donatello and frowned. "Shut up." He said as he cuffed Donatello up the side of the head. Donatello still thrashed in pain.

"Someone shut him up." Hun said as he walked over to the table and grabbed a sledge hammer. "This should be fun." Hun said, his back was turned to them. A Red Dragon walked up to Donatello.

Leonardo thrashed against his bonds. "Leave him alone!" His eyes widened as the Red Dragon pulled out a bowie hunting knife and ran it straight through hard shell and into Donatello's heart.

Donatello's eyes widened in shock as blood soaked through his grey shirt. His eyes closed and he hung limply from his chains, the knife protruding from his chest.

The Red Dragon, who had murdered his brother, fell to the ground as the crack of a gun cut through the stunned silence.

"Donny!" He and his brother's screamed in anguish. Blood was running down his brother's chest to pool on the floor at his feet.

"I said shut him up. I didn't say permanently." Hun growled at the dead man on the ground. "Clean this up." He ordered as one Red Dragon came forward and began to drag the dead man away. Hun looked at his handgun and tossed it onto the table. "Now where were we. Oh yes, you and suffering until I get tired of playing with you."

Leonardo could feel the tears running hotly down his cheeks. "You are going to pay for that!" Leonardo yelled at him.

"And who do you figure is going to make me pay once I kill all of you?" Hun asked as he hefted up the sledgehammer and brought it down and across his leg.

Leonardo felt his world blacken as pain like nothing he ever felt before roared through his leg, traveling up and bursting through his brain like a thousand volts of electricity. He screamed in agony as he heard the breaking and shattering of his thigh bone.

Leonardo couldn't breathe, couldn't catch his breath. It felt as if his leg was being tormented by thousands upon thousands of tiny blades, each slicing slowly and painfully into his flesh. The slightest movement of his body was excruciating.

Leonardo could hear his brother's yelling his name, but their voices were too far away.

"Someone has killed something that was mine." An angry voice said from behind Hun.

Hun turned around in confusion. The Red Dragon's trained their guns on the cloaked figure behind them.

The Red Dragon's opened fire but they never seemed to be able to hit the figure. It looked as if it stood perfectly still and yet Leonardo knew she had to be moving.

"Stop shooting you idiots!" Hun screamed. "Who the hell are you and how did you get in here?" Hun yelled at her.

Nightmare pulled back her black hood and threw back her cape. Her wings rose, her horns glinted in the faint light of the warehouse lighting.

"I am Nightmare, and you have dared to touch something that belonged to me." Nightmare growled showing her fangs. "Though I suppose the one responsible is dead." She held out her hand, the bloody knife that had killed Donatello flew through the air. She caught the knife and licked some of the blood from the blade. "However, you hurt my lovers and attempted to harm me, for that, you must pay."

"Kill her!" Hun yelled, but all of their guns seemed to jam. The Red Dragons looked frantically at Hun.

"Oh it is not me you should be worrying about. You should be worrying about him." Nightmare said as she pointed the bloody knife behind Hun.

Leonardo dazedly looked to where Nightmare was pointing. He was fighting against the oblivion unconsciousness would give him.

He watched through black spotted vision as Donatello's head shot up. His eyes snapped open revealing golden-red coloured eyes. He smiled, but it wasn't a pleasant smile. He pulled his arms from the wall breaking the manacles and chains as if they were nothing but paper.

Donatello had eyes for no one but Nightmare. He ignored Hun and everyone around him. He walked over to Nightmare as Hun stumbled out of the way.

"It's impossible...he, he was dead." Hun stammered in shock.

Donatello knelt down on one knee in front of her. "What would you have me do, Mistress?" He asked, head bowed.

"Hurt them, do not kill them, and keep the big one moderately conscious." She said with a shrug.

Donatello turned his head and smiled bloodthirstily as he stood. "Are you sure Mistress? I can smell your blood, for that affront they must pay with their lives."

"A bullet did manage to find it's mark, but it is of no matter. You have your orders."

"Yes," Donatello's maniacal smile widened. "I do."

Leonardo looked at his brother in horror. Whatever that was, it was no longer his brother. The bloodthirsty look Donatello was giving the Red Dragons was one he never thought to see on his pacifist brother's face.

Donatello made short work of the Red Dragons. He moved faster than they could even see. The punches and the kicks were faster than the mortal eye could follow, making the Red Dragon goons seem like they were being attacked by an invisible force.

Nightmare was suddenly standing in front of him. She knelt down and looked at his leg. She reached out clawed fingers to touch it and Leonardo felt a whimper escape him, even though she hadn't touched him. Nightmare frowned, pulled her hand back and slashed at his leg. His jean leg fell to the ground in tattered shreds. Clawed fingers reached inside her cape and came out bloody. She smeared the blood down his leg. His breath hitched in pain as her soft touch sent another wave of piercing agony through him.

"It's okay Leonardo, just give me a minute." She said as she gently lay her hands on his injured leg.

Her hands began to glow golden as Leonardo's pain filled world suddenly began to disappear. A pleasant warmth seeped into the damaged muscle and bone and he could actually feel the bone and flesh begin to knit itself and heal. His face and body relaxed as Nightmare's warmth flowed through him. Nightmare pulled away and broke his chains. He tentatively stood on his now healed leg. He nodded that he was good and Nightmare set about releasing Michelangelo and Raphael.

They looked over to where Donatello was playing with Hun. Donatello gave one more crushing blow to Hun's face and the big man went down in a heap.

Donatello looked up and smiled. He was covered in blood, a lot of it his own, but some not.

"Mortals are no fun, they break so easily." Donatello said in a disappointed voice. He looked at Nightmare and watched her with hungry eyes.

"I thought I told you to leave him conscious." Nightmare said as she picked the Tarot card off of the table.

"You said moderately." Donatello said as he nudged Hun who groaned.

"So I did." Nightmare said.

Donatello stepped over Hun and stalked hungrily to Nightmare. He reached out and pulled up her clawed hand that was covered in her blood. She watched him as he studied the blood. He pulled her claws close and licked the blood from one of the clawed fingers. His eyes burned an even more bright reddish gold.

Michelangelo covered his mouth in horror. Leonardo looked at their lost brother grimly.

"I want some more." Donatello said to her.

"Later. We are not finished here yet." Donatello let go of her wrist and walked back over to Hun, easily picking him up off the floor by the back of his clothing. "So this is the man responsible for the Red Dragons." Nightmare said to them. Nightmare crouched down and looked at Hun who opened his eyes.

Leonardo had thought he would be more angry. Here Hun had finally been brought to his knees. He could finally get revenge against the man who had nearly taken the lives of two of his brothers, and yet even though his anger simmered just under the surface, he was willing to step aside and let Nightmare handle it. He didn't know why, but in a way, he almost felt sorry for Hun. Hun had just stepped into the deep end of the pool, and found a shark.

"Another mutant freak." Hun spat out.

Donatello shook him. Hun clenched his teeth together in pain, anger and fear. "She's not a mutant Hun." Michelangelo said softly. "She's Nightmare, and your worst."

"Very catchy Michelangelo.I will have to get Gabriel to put it on my buisness card. " She said with a smile. She held up the Tarot card between her fingers. Hun looked at it. "I told Samael to tell you to use your blood, smear it on the card and summon me when things get too dicey. I should not have to come because I felt one of you die. I suppose I could say 'luckily it was Donatello, at least he was mostly demon before he was killed', but I won't acknowledge that because it pains me to think of it that way." Nightmare said as she tapped the card against her lips. "Which brings us back to you." She said shifting her attention back to Hun. Her eyes bled to red. "If I kill you, it will be too easy and I will just have to deal with you in Hell since you are definitely not going to visit that great white cloud in the sky." She said with a vicious smile.

Hun looked confused and looked at the Tarot card again. Leonardo could see him trying to work out 2 and 2 and getting 5 except in this case, 5 was the right answer.

Nightmare stood. "You touch them again, and I will curse you with eternal life." She grinned. "And don't think that may sound not too bad, because eternal life doesn't mean impervious and it doesn't mean you can heal. And then, free of the Accords, I will tear you apart into small pieces of meat. My demon," She pointed to Donatello."Will then put all oll of your tiny screaming bits into a sack. This nice bloody screaming sack of torment and pain wil then be dragged to Hell, where I will throw you into the deepest, darkest, hottest pit of Hell where your flesh will burn for an eternity. And finally when I feel merciful, I will Destory your very soul. Do I make myself clear?" She questioned him.

Hun's eyes had widened. "Who? What are you?" He whispered in terror.

Raphael crouched down. "Nightmare, but she also goes by the name of Morning Star, as to what she is, you can just call her, The Devil."

A Hell gate opened behind Nightmare. Leonardo could see the rolling orange clouds of Hell. Anytime any of the Hell gates had opened it was usually silent and an even temperature. Now he could hear the screams, and feel the intense heat emanating from the gate.

Samael in his demonic form stepped out, spreading his wings wide. His yellow eyes gleamed angrily. His cloven hooves struck the floor as he rose up to his full 6'6" height.

His eyes roved over them and stopped at Nightmare. He got down on one shaggy goat knee and bowed. "You have need of me My Lady Morning Star?"

"Yes. Give me the Master list." She said as samael handed her a scroll. The scroll turned into a huge tome. She opened it, read through a few pages, smiled, and gave the 'list' back to Samael. "That will be all." She motioned for Samael to leave, the Hell gate closing behind him.

"He been working out?" Raphael asked.

"You could say that." She said with quirk of her lips. Her eyes were again green and turned themselves back to Hun. "I might have a use for you." She said with a smile that showed her fangs. Hun quivered in fear. Nightmare laughed and patted Hun's cheek. "This will be fun." She winked and then punched Hun hard in the face, his eyes rolled up into his head. Donatello dropped him in disgust as Nightmare tucked the Tarot card into Hun's pocket and stood. She frowned as she scented the air.

"I smell blood." Donatello said softly.

Leonardo looked around him. There was blood everywhere.

"Human and female." Nightmare nodded.

"April!" Leonardo shouted in realization, but Nightmare and Donatello were already gone.

They looked around in panic. There seemed to be an office at the far side of the warehouse. They ran for the office. Leonardo stumbled into the room. Katherine was kneeling over April who was propped up in Casey's arms. April looked as if she was in pain and Leonardo could see the blood beneath her.

Donatello was standing in the corner, arms crossed, his eyes watchful as if he were looking for threats. An unconscious Red Dragon at his feet.

Nightmare looked grim. "They baby is coming."

April's eyes widened. "No, It's too soon." April said in fear, tears of worry running down her cheeks.

"Nightmare can you help her?" Leonardo asked softly. He knelt down beside Nightmare and held onto April's other hand. "Please." Leonardo begged when she didn't answer.

"It's not that I won't, it is just I am trying to figure out _how_, and if I _should_ help." Nightmare said softly.

"What do you mean '_If_'? Leonardo growled.

"Human technology is such that if she gets to a hospital fast enough she and the baby may survive." She said 's eyes widened as she looked over her shoulder. Donatello was looking at something they couldn't see. His muscles had bunched up and was ready to fight.

"Heal her." Raphael begged. "Just like you did with Leo's leg, with me."

"There is nothing to heal Raphael. The process has already begun, she is already in labour and the baby is already coming. But if she goes to a hospital, only one will leave." Nightmare said as she turned her attention back from whatever she and Donatello were looking at. Donatello relaxed slightly as if whatever it was, had gone.

Nightmare pulled April gently from Casey's arms. April screamed in fear and pain. Nightmare looked grim but determined. She swung April up into her arms, picking up the older, larger woman as if she weighed nothing.

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><p><strong>Phew, tense chapter! Poor Donny, poor April! Thoughts opinions? wondering where this is all going? =) Don't worry eventually it will all make sense.=)(I hope)<strong>


	13. Chapter 13

**A big thank you to forgottenforever and Griffon of the Night for your reveiws and support!**

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><p><span>Chapter 13<span>

**Raphael** found himself standing in soft grass. Katherine was already halfway into the middle of a glowing pool of water. She was up to her waist and then stopped.

Raphael had the impression of a circle of trees and he felt as if he was being watched, but his entire focus was on the two women in the lake. Katherine's cloak and gaunlets were gone, and he couldn't see much of April' but from what he could see she now seemed to be in some sort of white billowing dress.

"Do not enter the pool." Katherine ordered as Casey took a step towards the water.

"Breathe April, just breathe." Katherine said gently as she cried out in pain.

Casey began to pace back and forth around the circular lake's edge. Raphael looked at his friend and put a hand on his shoulder. Casey looked at him with fear filled eyes.

Raphael couldn't even find any words to comfort his friend. Fear choked him as anger blazed through him. "I'm going back to that warehouse and killing the guy who did this to April!" He quietly growled. There was something about this place that inspired the need to talk softly. It felt...sacred. A place where the thoughts, needs and desires of mortals had the ability to actually be heard by whatever power existed out in the universe.

"He pushed her, and she just fell." Casey said miserably. Casey was so scared and worried he didn't have any room to be angry.

"He's already dead." Donatello said as he walked over and sat at the foot of the throne perched on a raised dais Raphael hadn't even noticed. It looked to be made of wood, but more as if a tree had grown into a throne rather than having been carved. He looked at his Not brother. He was a problem they would have to deal with after this was over. But at the moment he couldn't be sorry that his demonic brother had killed the Red Dragon.

April cried out in agony again. "Can't you at least take away the pain?" Casey yelled at her.

"For all things, there is always a price Casey. It will be some time, these things take time." Katherine said as she continued to hold April suspended in the water.

Raphael didn't know how long they waited, but he knew hours had already passed. They paced, they rested, and they gazed helplessly at the two women in the center of the lake.

Raphael could see blood in the water. Suddenly something changed. An electric charge rolled down his skin. Katherine began to sing, or chant perhaps, he wasn't sure, but he couldn't understand the words. Wind began to stir the trees slightly. A golden circle appeared with April and Katherine in the center of it. The water began to swirl around them. Faster and faster the water churned covering up Katherine's voice as well as April's cries of pain. Finally they were both swallowed up by the ring of water obscuring the two women.

The water fell as if suddenly out of the influence of whatever had been controlling it. Both women were gone. Raphael worriedly scanned the lake but could see no sign of them.

"April!" Leonardo shouted as he spotted what his brother had noticed, a limp figure lying in the shallows of the lake.

Casey got to her first. April opened up her eyes. "I'm okay." She said as Casey held her close. "It was so warm." She said softly as she closed her eyes.

Raphael scanned the lake looking for any sign of Katherine and the baby. Finally he spotted a ripple in the water as Katherine's head broke the surface. She looked as if she was walking on the bottom of the lake which meant either the lake had gotten deeper, or Katherine had used some other way to suspend them within the water. Katherine wasn't gasping for air, which meant she didn't need any. Raphael looked to her empty hands as she emerged to walk across the surface of the lake.

"Katherine?" He questioned softly as she stepped onto dry land.

"She is at the bottom of the lake." Katherine said softly.

Raphael turned his head away in sorrow. Katherine touched his shoulder. "She is fine, just waiting until when she was supposed to be born. She is growing stronger."

She walked over to Casey and April and knelt down. "She will not be fully human. We have changed her Fate, which means she now has attracted the attention of Destiny. And if you think Fate is bad, Destiny is a bitch." Katherine said seriously.

"What did you do?" Michelangelo asked softly.

"There is always a price for everything Michelangelo. I gave her to Yggdrasil. She sleeps within a golden womb being fed by the Tree of Life itself. Like I said, she will not be fully human. In two months the tree will give birth to his daughter, and you will be able to take her home. The price, was blood, pain and life. The price for a life is always a life."

"Whose life?" Leonardo whispered.

Katherine's eyes flicked to April and to Casey. "Wishes heard were granted." She said softly.

Raphael's mind reeled with horror.

"Like Donny?"Leonardo questiond.

"She was given some of the life from each of her parents. As well, there is the understanding that when it is time, you must let her go, to fulfill her Destiny." Katherine said solemnly.

"How long?" Leonardo asked.

"How long what?" She asked.

"How long will April and Casey have her for?" Leonardo asked, his voice soft.

Katherine smiled. "There is a formula for this sort of thing."

"16." Michelangelo said suddenly. They looked at Michelangelo in surprise. "What? You have wishes, miraculaous births, the gods. Total fairytale pulp." He said with a shrug.

"Yes, Destiny will call on her 16th birthday.

"Is there anything you can do?" Leonardo pleaded.

"No. Fate is impossible to change, Destiny even more so, because Destiny _calls_ on you, and you must always answer Her call. But don't worry, she'll have a Devil of a godmother watching her back." Katherine said with a gentle smile.

"So, she's fine?" April asked quietly.

"Yes, she's fine." Katherine said with a smile. "Think of it like she is in an incubator."

Determination filled April's face.

"No you can't see her anymore than you could see her growing within you." Katherine said as April opened her mouth.

"Then I'm staying here." April said as she pulled from Casey's grasp to stand.

Katherine looked as if she was going to protest and then shrugged. "If that is what you want."

"You three might as well stay as well." Katherine grumbled. "I'm really too tired to care right now."

"Three?" Raphael questioned. But then looked at his demonic brother. Donatello wouldn't be going back with them. Ever.

Katherine walked over and slumped into the throne. Donatello curled around her feet, head laying on her lap like a loyal pet.

"Donny?" April asked in concern. Donatello looked at her with red-gold glittering eyes.

"This does not concern you at the moment. Rest and sleep is in order. I have healed you and given you strength, but this does not mean you do not need sleep." Katherine waved her hand and April and Casey vanished. "They will be fine." Katherine said as she looked at Leonardo.

"Donny didn't make it."Leonardo said wretchedly.

"The Covenant has been restored." Katherine agreed.

"My binding needs to be reinforced." Donatello said looking up at Katherine. "I am not what I once was, if you do not reinforce the binding I can rage against you and attempt to break it." Donatello said to her.

"You have already begun to reinforced it. You purposely drank of my blood. I find that interesting. Most would not wish to be bound. I would have thought you would have fought the binding."

Donatello looked at her with his glittering reddish-gold eyes. "I could have, but it is my wish to remain bound to you for the rest of eternity. I am yours." He said softly.

"I see." She said as she held out her wrist to him. Donatello leaned over her wrist. Raphael thought at first he was kissing her wrist until he saw the blood drip from around his brother's lips. Donatello pulled back red lips stained with her blood. Katherine had begun to glow, her eyes a bright emerald green. His brother's eyes looked at him and he shivered. They were pitiless. The two predators stared at them as if they were food, and Raphael knew he was, but he didn't show them any fear, because then, he _would_ be food.

"Can Donatello come back out and play?" She questioned as she stopped glowing.

Donatello turned glittering red-golden eyes to her. "He is weak, he will be unable to protect you."

"If he has need of you, he will call, he has always been able to call you." Katherine said gently.

"He has never had need of me." Donatello said almost sullenly.

"He has never dealt with the monsters I do." She said with a quirk of her lips, but her face grew serious. "If you love me, give him back."

"You could have just ordered me to do it. I cannot disobey you in anything." Donatello said.

"I know." Katherine said in all seriousness.

Donatello nodded, lay his head down on her leg and closed his eyes.

Donatello sat bolt upright and gasped. His brown eyes looked around in horror and looked down at his bloodstained clothes.

"Donny?" Leonardo asked as he approached carefully.

Donatello looked around in panicked confusion.

"It's okay Donny." Leonardo said comfortingly.

"Leo?" Donatello said in confusion. "How did I?" He looked around. "I was dead, and then I was..." He said softly. "I felt him, scratching at my mind trying to break free, trying to overpower me." Donatello whispered. He looked at his hands. "He's still there." He said in horror.

"It is hard to get rid of a piece of yourself." Katherine said gently. Donatello looked up at Katherine who was still sitting in the throne. Her skin where Donatello had drank her blood was smooth and unmarred.

"That was not Donatello." Raphael protested.

"Well, not the Donatello you know, but his hidden self, the dark part of him that was buried within his own mind and soul. Everyone has a dark part of themselves. It is that part that lets you do the things that need to be done, when they need to be done. Some dark halfs are close to the surface, others are buried deep. The part of him that is demon now resides with his darker half." Katherine said with a shrug.

"I feel different." Donatello said to Katherine. Donatello looked at how he was curled up at Katherine's feet.

"Can you stand?" Leonardo asked his brother.

Donatello looked as if he was unsure. Donatello looked at Katherine who nodded. Donatello slowly stood.

"You are a demon Donatello. You are no longer mortal in any sense. Mortal weapons can hurt you, but will never be able to kill you, and you are immensley powerful." Katherine said to him.

"I feel...stronger. I can see things, smell things, hear things." Donatello said in fear and awe. "What did my darker self do?" Donatello asked staring at his bloody hands.

"You beat up some Red Dragons, and Hun." Raphael cut it.

Donatello looked at his hands and slowly open and closed them as if he was shocked that he had done it. Raphael wasn't going to say anything about the dead Red Dragon.

"What else did I do?" Donatello asked softly.

"Nothing." Raphael said firmly.

"You drank Katherine's blood. That was gross." Michelangelo put in helpfully.

Donatello looked at Katherine in shock. Red and gold glinted in Donatello's eyes.

"April and Casey are they...?" He began.

"Sleeping at the moment." Katherine said to him.

Donatello nodded and looked relieved.

Donatello's eyes widened as his head swung around. Katherine's lips moved back, exposing her canines. She began to growl low in her throat. It was an inhuman sound. Her eyes bled to red in anger. "So they wish to attack me?" She questioned. Her eyes reverted back to green. "Is it so wrong to want nothing more than to crawl into bed and sleep?" She asked. She dragged her clawed hands down her face. "Okay fine. Let's do this." She said as armor flowed over her body. Her gauntlets were again on her hands, but now, she wore black shoulder guards with silver detailing. Her black cape again settled around her shoulders. She wore black boots with metal plating and her clothing had changed. She wore a black leather bra of some osrt and a long white flowing skirt. Raphael swallowed as he recognized the exact clothing that Goddess used to wear.

Donatello walked over to her and curled himself back around her legs. Donatello's bloddy clothing was replaced by black leather pants, a white tunic that exposed his arms. On Donatello's shoulder there was a black butterfly, exactly as Nightmare had under her left eye. A Blood-red cape settled around his choulders, metal arm guards appeared on his arms, shoulder guards and a silver helm appeared on his head.

Raphael looked at Leonardo and Michelangelo, but he could no longer see his brothers. He looked at his own hands and realized he was now invisible. A moment of panic rose within him, but he stomped it down. He was invisible for a reason, just as Donatello was now dressed up as a reject from a D&D game.

"It's making my skin crawl." Donatello growled as he clutched Katherine's legs closer, as if by touching her it was easing whatever effects only they seemed to notice.

"It's pissing me off." Katherine growled. Suddenly a mask of bored indifference fell over Katherine's face. She shifted position so she was negligently sitting in her throne. She now looked every inch the condescending, cold, pitiless goddess. The scenery around them changed. It looked as if they were now in an opulent throne room. Red and black banners covered the walls. Black flags were hung with a red butterfly in the middle.

"Must be Nightmare's colours." Raphael whispered as he rememberd Darkness' colours were purple, blue and black.

Donatello's eye's glinted golden-red from within the darknened helm. His mouth was set into menacing lines as a giant screen flickered to life in front of them. The image of a tall broad warrior in his later years appeared on the screen. His hair was wiry and grey, his left eye was missing and he had a long grey beard. He was dressed in a leather tunic with a wolf skin draped across his shoulder. A shield was strapped to his back, a long sword at his side.

"Hello Odin, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Katherine asked in a silky smooth voice. Her voice had gotten huskier, the full depth of it's sexuality playing along his skin.

"Nightmare." Odin said in disgust, a gleam of pure hatred and lust appearing in his eyes. He seemed to shake himself and rely on his anger to break the hold her vioice had over him. "You are being summoned to Court to answer for your crimes in front of the Council of the gods."

"Hmm, and what crimes would those be?" Katherine questioned without any change of expression. Donatello was growling low in his throat.

"Your charges will be read when you arrive." Odin said to her.

"I see. You realize that attacking my wards has not put me in a trusting mood." Katherien said dangerously.

"We would have taken you by force if we could assail Yggdrasil and break your wards. As it was, we were just knocking." Odin said trying to hold onto his temper.

"Well, I suppose that even though I have not been bored of late, I guess I can spare a moment for you Odin." She said with a sigh.

Katherine stood gracefully stepping out of Donatello's grip on her legs. She reached out her hand to Odin and was gone.

"No!" Donatello shouted at the screen.

On the screen Katherine appeared standing in a circular room. What he supposed were gods were sitting behind desks raised high up off the floor. They looked down at her. She looked around in curiosity. She did not appear to be worried.

Donatello began to pace in front of the screen.

"What's going on?" Michelangelo asked.

Donatello shook his head. 'She left me." He growled. "How am I supposed to protect her if she leaves me behind?"

They looked at their reddish-gold eyed brother. He looked back at them. "It's still me. Well, mostly." Donatello said as he looked back at the screen. Odin had begun talking.

"Nightmare. You have been brought here to answer the charges that are set out before you. How do you plead?" Odin asked her. Odin's desk was bigger then everyone else's.

"Well I have yet to hear what I have been accused of." Katherine said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"You have thwarted Fate. You saved a child's life and created for her a Destiny." Odin said seriously.

"So?" She asked.

"So, you do not know the consequences of your actions!" Odin smashed his fist down on his desk.

"No, I don't. Do you?" She asked.

"We do not know what is going to happen, but the oracles have begun predicting grave things. Universe changing things." Odin said solemnly.

"Oracles work fast." Katherine observed.

"This is not a joke!" He yelled. "The very balance of the universe has been disrupted!" Katherine shrugged. "Kill the child and those charges will be dropped." Odin said to her.

"So what other charges are there?" Katherine asked.

Odin glared but said, "You are also being charged with the theft of Yggdrasil." Odin thundered.

"Tone it down there a little god boy, I don't think everyone on Earth heard you." Katherine said to him.

"You will not make jokes. You have stolen my Tree of Life!"

"Well technically possession is 9 tenths of the law you know." Katherine said with a smile.

Raphael couldn't see what happened next, but Katherine had been cut diagonally from shoulder to hip.

"How do you plead?" Odin asked smugly.

Katherine smiled as her wound closed. "Your Tree chose someone who was not so weak. If you could have held the Tree, it would not have been searching for a new Master. You have Asgard, why should you wish the Tree?" Nightmare asked. "Oh that's right, because it isn't _just_ a Tree. It had become so much more than just a Tree. It binds the Earth, Hell and Heaven together, of course it always did this, but now, it holds Power. Huge amounts of Power, because the Tree has become not just Yggdrasil, which was just one tree, It has become The Tree, and as such, holds all of the magic in the world, and with the magic, all of the belief in the world. And we all know gods are nothing without belief. Without belief you cease to be what you are."

"How do you plead?" Odin growled.

Katherine shrugged. "I will not kill the child, and I did not steal the Tree." She said. "Now if that is all dealt with..." She began.

"You are nothing!" Odin roared as he stood up.

"Does Heaven know you have dragged me here Odin?" She questioned.

"The authority of Heaven means nothing here!" He bellowed.

"I'll take that as a no then." Katherine said with a shake of her head. "Heaven isn't going to be happy."

"You are nothing but a small weak deity, at best. You are no god, and just because you rule Hell does not mean that you have any power over us!" Odin yelled.

"If I am such a powerless, insignificant deity, then why haven't you taken Yggdrasil back?" She asked innocently.

Odin glared down at her. "You have been charged and in my ruling found guilty on all charges." Odin said in a low steady voice.

Raphael hung onto Odin's every word. "You Bastard!" Raphael yelled at the screen.

"As punishment for your crimes, and mockery you have made of our proceedings today. I sentence you to Destruction." He smiled menacingly.

"No!" Raphael screamed at the screen.

"Nightmare I bind you with your name to this place. I hold you here." Odin said as golden chains lashed out restraining her.

The rest of the gods stood as one. "I wondered why you brought out all of your heavy hitters today." Katherine said mockingly.

"Your Destruction will give me great pleasure." All of the god's hands rose as one and the light became blinding. There was silence and then the sound of ripping, tearing, and carnage. The sound of an explosion powerful enough to destroy a god.

Raphael fell to his knees in horror. Donatello let out a cry like a wounded animal. Leonardo and Michelangelo screamed in anguish.

But...Raphael's eyes snapped open. He still existed. He looked at the screen as the smoke cleared.

Katherine stood in the center of the circle that had been created to hold in the power and bind Katherine to the spot. "Well that was interesting. Not very fun, but interesting." She said to the shocked faces of the gods. She smiled then, but it was a menacing smile.

"How are you still alive!" Odin said in horror. "We have cut off your power, bound you within the circle. You should not still exist." He whispered.

"Funny how that seems to happen." Katherine said with a smile. "Now if you will excuse me. Unlike you gods, I actually have things to do." She said brushing off the golden chains and stepping out of the circle as if it were nothing to her.

"It's impossible." Odin said in shock. "We bound you by your name."

Katherine laughed. "It interests me to watch you struggle so. I have always found it amusing."

"You are nothing but a young upstart. You've spent most of your time in Hell. You are nothing but a new blip that has appeared on the radar of Earth."

"Wow, you know what radar is, nice job, keeping up with the times and all, always a good idea." She smiled.

Whatever it was that had cut her before was now twirled around her hands. It looked like a golden whip, wielded by Odin.

Katherine smirked. "One day you may thank me. Perhaps not." Katherine said as she pulled Odin from behind the desk. "But until that day comes," Katherine crouched down and pulled Odin close. "Know this. For me, you have only existed on this planet for an insignificant tiny, blip of time. I was old when the Earth was nothing but a mass of rock flying through space. I was old when life happened to _other_ planets, not this one. Now, I have better things to do with my time than listen to the accusations of gods who care more about themselves than the people they are supposed to rule." With that she let go of Odin and stood. "Oh and by the way. I think I can hear the flapping of angel wings. I think Heaven is not very happy with you. You see, Heaven actually likes me." Katherine said with a cruel smile.

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><p><strong>Thoughts, opinions?<strong>


	14. Chapter 14

**Just wanted to say thank you to Forgottenforever and Griffon of the Night for your wonderful reviews and support!**

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><p><span>Chapter 14<span>

**Raphael** watched as Katherine vanished from the Council room. The screen disappeared and Katherine appeared in front of them.

Donatello already had her in his arms and was holding her close. "You left me behind." He whispered. His helm had already been thrown to the ground as he tucked his face into her neck.

"I'm sorry Donatello. I was not willing to risk your life." She said to him.

"That is what I am for." He said quietly.

"No Donatello. You are worth so much more than just my protector. You could have stood up to them, but you are my ace in the hole as it were. If they believe you to be more powerful than them, they will stop at nothing to kill us both." She said pulling away enough to brush his cheeks with her clawed thumbs.

"If they knew your name, they could have killed you." Donatello said in a whisper.

"Possibly. They could definitely have bound me. That is why you must be careful. That is why I use the name Nightmare." She said to Donatello, whose eyes had reverted back to a dark rich brown.

Raphael understood then. If they continued to call her Katherine, even when it was safe to do so, they may slip up one of these times and the results could be deadly. He had to stop thinking of her as Katherine and start thinking of her as Nightmare.

She groaned. "This is going to be awkward." She said as she slumped in Donatello's arms. Donatello tried to catch her but he too slid to the ground.

Raphael grabbed at Katherine or he supposed Nightmare. Her eyes were half closed. Leonardo grabbed at Donatello who was unconscious.

"I think I overdid it." She whispered. "I don't feel very good. Being blown up sucked." She mumbled.

Raphael could almost have smiled if he wasn't so worried. She had spoken exactly like how Katherine used to speak.

"Gabriel and Azazel are pounding at the front door." She mumbled before she closed her eyes completely.

He looked at Leonardo. Leonardo scanned the area around them. They were back within the ring of trees by the lake, that is if they had actually left in the first place.

"Door." Michelangelo said motioning behind them. Raphael looked over his shoulder and saw a reddish brown door hanging in mid air.

"Help me with Donny, Mikey." Leonardo said as they struggled with their brother.

"He weighs a ton, when did Donny get so heavy." Michelangelo complained.

Raphael stood with Nightmare in his arms. He had to readjust his grip so that he was holding in her wings as well so they wouldn't drag on the ground. He strode towards the door, managed to get the door open and stumbled into the brightly lit foyer of the house. Raphael looked around. It was Katherine's house.

He looked at the front door which was being heavily pounded on and someone was shouting loudly on the other side of the door. Raphael glared at the door, turned and headed upstairs to put Nightmare in her room.

He opened the door to her room and looked around. Everything was the same as when they had left. Minus the bloody circle in the middle of the floor the last time he had been in Katherine's room.

He walked over to the bed and gently lay Nightmare down. He brushed a finger across her cheek and left the room. Leonardo and Michelangelo came out of the room Donatello had used the last time they were here.

They walked down the stairs and looked at the door. Raphael opened it. A very angry Azazel in human form stood about to pound on the door again. He was wearing jeans, and a bomber jacket. Raphael shifted his gaze to the man beside him. Gabriel looked exactly as he remembered. Blonde curls blue eyes, no wings though. He was wearing jeans and had a black wool coat buttoned up to the throat.

"She's fine go away." Raphael said as he went to slam the door in their faces.

Gabriel looked at him in shock and Samael looked at him in fury as he stopped him from closing the door. "Where is she?" Samael growled.

"Raph." Leonardo growled at him.

Raphael stepped back and let the former angel and demon in.

"Where is she?" Samael demanded.

"She's sleeping." Leonardo said softly.

Gabriel looked startled as did Samael. " She never sleeps." Gabriel said in shock as they brushed past him and took the stairs two steps at a time.

"Hey!" Raphael protested as he followed them up the stairs. By the time he and his brothers got to Nightmare's room Azazel and Gabriel were on their way back out.

"When I heard what had happened I couldn't believe the gods would try such a thing." Gabriel said in shock.

"Let's go to the kitchen, leave her to rest." Leonardo suggested. Samael and Gabriel agreed. They walked into the kitchen. Gabriel walked over to the cupboard and grabbed some cups, tea and put the kettle on to boil. He then grabbed a coffee pot and began to brew a pot of coffee.

Rage ripped through Raphael at this. It meant that they had spent enough time here to know where everything was, and they obviously treated it like home.

Gabriel made tea while everyone looked uneasily at each other. "Kitten's right, this is awkward." Michelangelo grumbled.

"Fine, if everyone is just going to stand around looking at each other I'll start." Raphael growled. "I get it, you two are her consorts and you've been looking after her for a really long time, and you both are in love with her, I get it, but you two have got to back off."

Samael's eyes bled from blue to yellow in restrained anger. He stood up, grabbed a mug and poured himself a cup of coffee.

Gabriel took a sip of his tea. "I don't think you really have the authority to be ordering us around." Gabriel said with a hint of anger. Leonardo placed a restraining hand on his shoulder. "The thing is this. We are well aware of who and what you are to Katherine. We know that Nightmare has remembered who and what she is. We understand this and we know that if she was going to make one or both of us her actual Consorts that she would have done so by now. This doesn't mean that she doesn't love us, we know she does, but now we know who it is who has been in her heart all these Millennia." Gabriel said softly as he took a sip of his tea. His blue eyes flashed to him. "That being said, Nightmare must decide what it is she wants, not us. I am afraid we all must sit back and wait." Gabriel said looking at him over the rim of his tea cup.

This version of Gabriel pissed him off. Darkness' Gabriel was the quiet restrained one, Lucifer was the loudmouth. Here it looked as if Gabriel was the loudmouth and Samael was the quieter one. Raphael looked at Samael. Or Samael was too angry to even speak, which may be possible.

"Fine." Leonardo growled. "Now maybe you two can explain to us why a council of gods just tried to blow her up."

Samael and Gabriel looked at each other.

Samael threw himself into a chair at the table. "Heaven and Hell are the," He moved his hand as if looking for the right word to use. "Top of the dog heap right now, the high rollers, the big movers and shakers if you will. This, as you can imagine, does not sit well with many of the other gods, but there is nothing they can do about it. Gods are only as powerful as the strength of their worshipper's belief. This means that many of the older pagan gods are quite weak. "He said with a shrug. "So then Nightmare comes in, literally out of nowhere, and kills Lucifer. This left a giant power vacuum that needed to be filled, not to mention no one wanted to kick off the Apocalypse, so Nightmare became Morning Star. She cleaned up Hell a little, forged new Accords with Heaven, and everyone is happy except for the gods. She is too powerful. If she is a goddess of magic where did she come from? All of the other gods of magic are weak because of humanity's non belief. Nowadays everything can be explained by science, except when it can't, and people just tend to ignore anything that doesn't make sense." Samael shook his head.

"This being said, this young god of _magic_ of all things, shouldn't be so powerful. No one believes in magic anymore. Don't get me wrong there are large population who do, but they would have to worship her specifically and no one worships Nightmare. Even with the power of Hell behind her she is much too powerful." Samael paused. "So they believe that it is Yggdrasil that is giving her the power. But the gods are blinding themselves to the truth and the truth is that Nightmare poured _her_ power into Yggdrasil, not the other way around. So the gods believe that if they can take Yggdrasil from her, that they will once again become strong. So they want to take it." Samael said angrily.

Gabriel sighed. "Yes, the gods are acting foolish, this is nothing new. However I believe that after their failed attempt at killing her, they will not try to do so again. The real problem however lies with the Fae. She is going to have to do something about them. They are pushing harder to re-enter earth, some have even managed to slip through. The Old Powers are beginning to rise. It cannot go on much longer. Something must give, and I know Nightmare does not wish for it to be the humans who are trampled under the feet of creatures and monsters."

"And of course now there is the child." Samael said softly.

"What does April's daughter have to do with anything?" Leoanrdo asked softly.

Gabriel and Samael exchanged a look and shrugged. "We don't know."

Raphael looked at his brothers. This was so much bigger than just fighting The Shredder and the street gangs of New York.

Gabriel and Azazel stood. "We have duties we must attend." Gabriel said with a bow. He paused and said to them. "We never wished for her to remember who she was." He said softly.

"Why, because you wanted her for yourself?" Raphael accused.

Gabriel looked at him steadily.

"No Raph," Leonardo said softly. "Because if she remembered, she would remember what happened in Hell." He said softly.

Raphael opened his mouth then snapped it shut. He closed his eyes and turned his head angrily away.

Gabriel nodded solemnly. "Also, we did not know if her mind would remain intact if she did remember. For all that she is a First Soul, her soul is still mortal, and mortal souls can only take so much. We did not believe that her mind would be able to take the strain of so many awful memories. I believed that if she remembered, her mind would break." He said softly. "Watch her, she should wake soon." Gabriel said with a curt nod. Samaell gave a nod of his head and they let themselves out.

Raphael put his head down on the table.

He felt Michelangelo's comforting hand on his shoulder. "She's still sane Raph." He said softly.

"I know Mikey, but...this is just so much bigger than we are."

Michelangelo said softly. "I know. I said that Darkness' world was messed up, but I take it back, our world is messed up too, we just didn't realize it." Michelangelo mumbled.

"Yeah, but unlike our counterparts we ain't immortal." Raphael grumbled. "Well, except Donny." Raphael said awkwardly.

At that moment Donatello stumbled into the kitchen. Leonardo, who had taken a seat beside him, jumped up and went to help their too pale brother. "Donny, what are you doing out of bed?" Leonardo asked gently.

"I'm starving." He grumbled as he walked to the fridge.

They frowned and looked at each other. Donatello was never overly hungry. He would forget to eat most of the time if they didn't put a plate of something nearby so that if he happened to notice it, he would eat.

Donatello stood looking at the contents of the fridge.

"Samael and Gabriel must keep the fridge stocked." Leonardo observed.

Raphael nodded. It made sense, Nightmare didn't eat.

Donatello closed the door of the fridge and walked over to the cupboards beginning to dig through them.

"You want some coffee Donny, maybe a sandwich?" Michelangelo offered helpfully as he stood to pour his brother a coffee.

Donatello was beginning to look a little frantic. Michelangelo handed the mug to his brother who grabbed at it gratefully. Donatello took a huge gulp, turned and spit into the sink.

He looked at the coffee in disgust. "How long has that pot been on?"

"Ten, fifteen minutes." Michelangelo said frowning.

Donatello put the mug of coffee down. "Something's wrong with it. It tastes awful."

Leonardo frowned, grabbed the mug of coffee and took a sip. Leonardo grimaced. He wasn't normally a coffee drinker. "It tastes like coffee Donny."

Donatello frowned at the cup held out to him. He covered his nostrils. "It even smells bad." He complained.

Michelangelo managed to make Donatello a ham sandwich and handed it to him. Donatello shook his head and handed it back. "I can't." He said. "The smell is making my stomach roll." He said as he began to pace. He had started clutching at his stomach as if he was in pain.

"Donny are you okay?" Leonardo asked Donatello stilling his pacing.

"I'm starving Leo. I feel like my stomach is trying to claw itself to bits. It hurts." He said as he slid to the ground in front of the sink.

Donatello's eyes had turned gold. He clenched his teeth together in pain.

"Raph, go wake Nightmare up." Leonardo ordered.

"Do you think that's a good idea?" Raphael asked.

"He's in pain Raph, she'll be able to tell us what's wrong." Leo said worriedly.

Michelangelo walked over and knelt down in front of Donatello. He reached over and pulled Donatello's lips back further from his clenched teeth. "You've got fangs Donny." Michelangelo said softly letting go of Donatello's mouth.

"What?" Donatello said wincing in pain.

"Well not fang fangs. They are barely noticeable, but your canines are sharper and a little longer than they used to be." Michelangelo said to him. "I thought when you were drinking Kitten's blood that she had cut herself, but you bit her." Michelangelo pointed out.

Raphael watched as another wave of pain rolled through his brother who doubled over. "So what are you sayin Mikey, that Donny's some sort of blood suckin' vampire?"Raphael asked in shock.

"I don't know Raph." Michelangelo said shaking his head in worry.

"I can hear the beating of your hearts. I can hear the blood coursing through your veins. I can smell your fear." His brother looked at them, red gold eyes glittering in pain.

Michelangelo pulled up his sleeve giving him his wrist. "If you need to eat Donny, do it, just don't kill me, or hurt me too much." Michelangelo said as he turned his face away so he wouldn't have to watch.

Donatello looked at Michelangelo's arm in shock. "Is this what I have become?" He asked in horror.

Leonardo knelt down. "It's okay Donny. We're here for you. We'll give you whatever you need." He said as he pulled back his own sleeve exposing his own wrist. He leaned his head forward but pulled back. He shook his head.

"Donny if you're starving and if this is what you need..." Michelangelo began.

"That's not it Mikey." Donatello said with a shake of his head. "I can smell you, I can smell your blood, but, you don't smell good to me." He whispered. Donatello's attention suddenly went to the ceiling. He pulled his lips back in a growl. He struggled to stand and ran from the room. They followed close behind him.

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><p><strong>Nightmare<strong> tapped at the book in her hand as she stared at the fire that popped and crackled in the grate, but gave off no warmth. She had to make a decision. Either she accepted that she _was _Katherine, or she accepted that she _had_ been Katherine. She couldn't be both. She threw the book down in frustration. There were too many men in her heart right now. She stood up and walked to the door beside the fireplace. She entered her Soul Room and looked at her damaged soul. It was still fractured and broken. She stared at the woman she had been. She huffed out a breath and sat on the floor staring at her soul as if it would give her the answers. She looked at the gold chains that encircled her, binding her to Donatello. The silver cord that linked her to Donatello's very soul burned with an intense light.

She was starving. She had used too much power protecting herself from the assault of the gods. She had pulled power from Yggdrasil through Donatello, because although they were able to cut off her power from Yggdrasil, they couldn't cut her off from Donatello. And as her demon Familiar, Donatello is able to draw power from Yggdrasil as well. It was then an easy thing to pull the power of Yggdrasil through the chains that bound them together. Nightmare was not sure if the gods could have actually killed her, but she hadn't wanted to be injured enough that they might have tried again.

If she was starving this meant that Donatello would be hungry as well, which meant that she had to feed soon. She did not want Donatello to have to suffer through the echo of her hunger as well as his own.

She contemplated her soul and frowned.

When Hun had captured the brothers she had referred to them as her lovers, which was not true. They had been Katherine's lovers, and yet if she had called them her lovers and as she could not lie, she then had to conclude that she did in fact view herself as Katherine, otherwise she would not have been able to tell Hun they were her lovers. "Huh." She said to her soul.

Darkness had said that one day she would be okay with having _been_ Katherine, but Nightmare was okay with actually _being _her. She rolled this thought around in her head.

She _was_ Katherine. But now that she was willing to accept this, the question that needed to be answered was whether or not she would be able to stay sane by _becoming_ her? _Would she still be able to _be_ Katherine and be the moster she had become?_ She looked at the book. _And what about her own Destiny? _She wondered._ Her own circle of Fate closing rapidly in on her?_ She had set off a chain of events that she was only just beginning to understand the consequences of. She neesded more time to think before she acted.

She watched in facination as her soul, whose hands were tightly clenched together, slowly opened. In each there floated a glowing soul. One burned red, the other a ghostly golden blue. Her eyes widened as she recognized who the souls had belonged to.

Donatello's agonized hunger suddenly ripped through her pulling from her Soul Room. She struggled to open her eyes, but she couldn't, her body was still too weak. She needed more rest, but she needed to feed more.

She felt a presence beside her. She managed to turn her head slightly as she was lifted gently from her bed.


	15. Chapter 15

**A big thank you to forgottenforever for your awesome review!**

**And thank you to eveyone who is enjoying this story!**

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><p><span>Chapter 15<span>

**Donatello** stood in the doorway of Katherine's empty room. The presence was gone, but so too was Katherine. "No!" He shouted as he banged his fist against the doorframe. He slid to the ground. She was gone, something had taken her He had failed in his duty to protect her.

He could still smell the scent of the intruder in the air..

His brothers looked at Katherine's bedroom and empty bed in shock. "Where is she!" Raphael growled.

"He's taken her." He managed to whisper through the pain.

"Who's taken her Donny?" Leonardo questioned his voice thick with worry.

"I thought this place was locked up tighter than Fort Knocks. There is no way anyone got in here!" Raphael protested.

"Who Donny?" Leonardo asked again.

Donatello shook his head. "I don't know." He whispered, "But he's male." Donatello stood up, determination replacing his distress. "There would most likely be only a few who would be able to get in here. I can smell that there were two other men in the house as well."

Leonardo looked at him. "Samael and Gabriel."

Donatello nodded. Samael would be the one who smelled of sulphur, which meant that Gabriel was the one that smelled like the air in springtime. He frowned. The scent in the bedroom was familiar, but he couldn't place it.

He thought furiously. There had to be a way to find her. Donatello wondered then. Nightmare and Darkness were the same person, which meant that they thought the same way, a few deaths removed, which meant he should be able to figure this out. It hit him then. If Darkness had Magi, it stood to reason that Katherine had something as well. He ran down the stairs his brother's trailing after him.

"Donny, are you okay?" Michelangelo asked him.

He grunted an answer as he ran into the library. It looked the same as he remembered. And sitting in the middle of the dark carved wooden desk, was an inconspicuous laptop. Katherine was not good with technology, but she appreciated it.

He strode over to the desk, sat down in Katherine's chair and opened the laptop. There was a password prompt. "Come on Donatello think. You talked to her for four years." He said to himself.

"It's Kitten." Michelangelo said softly.

Donatello looked up in shock at him. "Mikey she..." He stopped. No she wouldn't have remembered who she was, but this didn't mean that Katherine wouldn't still have thought like Katherine. He typed in Kitten and the screen flashed to the Desktop.

He looked at his baby brother impressed.

"Donny, are you okay?" Leonardo asked him.

Donatello was still starving. His stomach was still trying to devour itself, but the pain had lessened to the point where finding food was not in his every thought. He stopped. The pain had stopped when Katherine had been taken. Which meant...He closed his eyes as he tried to feel her. He knew there was a silver cord that joined their souls and golden chains binding them together. He should be able to sense her, but he couldn't. He could feel the chains, so he knew she was okay, but reaching out felt as if he were reaching out into the dark and not being able to see or grasp at anything.

_But why would his hunger lessen unless...?_ "She's starving." Donatello whispered.

"What's that Donny?" Raphael asked.

"She's starving. I'm starving too, but what I was feeling, that wasn't all me, that was her as well." He whispered.

He needed to find her. It struck him then. "Why are April and Casey sleeping?" He asked in a worried voice.

His brother's looked at him at first in confusion and then with the realization that he had been awake but he wasn't exactly at home when the demon had rode him.

His brothers explained what had happened. Donatello was lucky that he was sitting because he would have fallen.

He looked at the laptop blankly. "Do we even know where April is?" Donatello asked softly. She was his friend, and he hadn't even been there for her, he didn't even remember anything that had happened.

"We think they are in the room that they stayed in before. It would make the most sense." Leonardo said softly. Donatello nodded numbly.

"Nightmare is hungry?" Michelangelo asked.

Donatello focused on the present. "If I was feeling a fraction of what she was feeling then she is starving, and in a great deal of pain." He said softly.

He looked back at the laptop's screen. He blinked at the as they icons began to move. "I need to find something I can eat." He said with a shake of his head.

"Are those supposed to do that?" Michelangelo asked him.

Donatello managed to click on an icon. It began streaming information. He had worked with Magi when it was in computer mode. It had been incredibly complicated, but the knowledge of Magi's operating system would help him with this operating system. He just wasn't sure how long it would take him to figure out the operating system. And then if Katherin's computer had a scrying mode, he wasn't even sure if he could operate it, let alone understand it.

_I'm trying to remember what I can't remember_. Katherine had said to him. The smell, was of someone he had smelled before. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the scent. Dark and earthy but dry. His eyes flashed open. "I know who took her." He said softly.

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><p><strong>Nightmare<strong> opened her eyes and looked at the bed she was laying on. It was a black, four pollster, king sized bed with black satin sheets with silver accents. The sheer black curtains that hung around the bed blew in a breeze that did not actually exist, hiding the figure of the man who had taken her. But she didn't need her sight to know who it was, she had her nose and her ears.

Pain lashed through her. She needed to feed. Everything inside her that was animal that was Hunger wanted to be fed. One way or another.

"I had always wondered why, when the angels and demons killed me, the one or the other didn't just keep my soul. I wondered why they had to keep tracking it over and over throughout time I suppose I now have my answer. But the question then becomes, why?" She asked the figure that was revealed as a curtain swayed out of the way only to flutter back.

He looked much different than the last time she had seen him. He of course remained silent. "So why help me?" She asked him as she struggled to sit up, and found the effort was too great. She slumped back on the pillows.

He stared at her, black eyes intense within his pale face.

"Why do you interest me?" He asked himself, his voice rough, as if he had never used the human throat he now had.

He knelt down, his grey wings brushing the floor. His shoulder length straight black hair fell partially over his black eyes. This raven wing brows arched gracefully over his eyes, giving him something of a sinister air. His pale face had well defined cheekbones that slid into a square jaw. Full lips remained impassive as he looked at her.

"Your light was always so bright, and for as many times as I claimed your soul, you never once feared me, why?" He asked her.

She looked at him steadily. "Why fear something so beautiful and comforting?" She asked.

"I do not understand." He said to her.

"You were always there to catch me in the end. I suppose in a way, you are like an old friend." She said to him. "Although this is a new form." She said to him.

He looked down at himself. He was naked as far as she could see. Not that this seemed to bother him at all. He looked back at her. "I wanted to appear to you in a more...familiar form."

"Why?" She asked.

"I do not know." He said studying her."You remember now. You remember everything."

"Yes, I remember everything." She said softly.

"You are older than even I am." He observed.

"Yes." She said to him. "I am older than even you, Death."

He nodded to her. But did not speak again. It was then that she got the impression that Death was confused. He seemed to want something from her, but even he did not know what it was.

"Why am I here?" She asked him. "And where is here?"

Death looked around him. "I built this place for you." He said. "It exists within my realm. It is separate from the 13th Hour, the time where there is no Time. But here, here it is all times." He said to her.

She nodded looking around the sparsely furnished room. She knew that Death existed within his own time, but she hadn't known what it was called, or that he had a realm all to himself. "Why did you build this for me?" She asked.

"To make you more comfortable." He said to her.

"Yes, but why?" She insisted.

"I do not know." He said as he looked at her intently.

She huffed out a breath. She _wanted_ to sleep, but she _needed_ to eat before her Hungers overrode her ability to think.

She studied the face of Death again. He was in a human form, which meant he was flesh and blood. All of her senses perked up at this thought.

"I hurt." She said to him.

He frowned but nodded. "I know hurt. I take hurt away." He said with a nod. "Although sometimes...I believe, I give hurt." He said in confusion.

"Yes, I believe you inspire any number of emotions." Nightmare said with a quirk of her lips. She slowly sat up. She could see the glow of her skin reflected upon the softly fluttering curtains. "I am hungry. I need to feed." She said to him.

"I do not understand." He said to her.

"Do you wish to know what pain is?" She asked him.

"Nothing can harm me. I am Death." He said to her.

"Yes, but in that form I can hurt you." She told him.

"Do you wish to hurt me?" He asked her uncertainly.

"No I don't want to hurt you." She said to him as she crawled to the edge of the bed. She slid her legs over so that she was sitting on the edge of the bed with Death kneeling on the floor between her legs. She pulled him up easily. He looked at her with puzzlement.

"I'm sorry, but I need to feed and you are my only source of blood." She said as she leaned into his neck. He smelled of the night and of earth.

"I have blood?" He asked.

"In this form, you do, and I need it. This will hurt, but only for a moment, and then, I will make it feel good." She whispered as she bit into his pale neck. Her fangs slid easily through his flesh and the blood poured into her mouth. It was rich, coppery and full of power, Death's power.

Death tensed but did not say a word as if the sensation was so new to him he wasn't sure how to react. She then took the pain away and rolled a wave of pleasure through him. She was part vampire, or perhaps a better way to describe what she was, was like Darkness, vampiric. She fed on blood, but her body was not undead, it was alive.

Nightmare wasn't sure why her body became what it was. She supposed the Nightmare godhede had created her body using her human body as a base and added to it the magical creatures in the area who most closely matched Darkness, since to the godhede, Darkness was the epitome of Power.

Lust coursed through her. Being vampiric meant that feeding could be extremely sexual. A vampire's bite and the need for sex went together. A vampire was very much a predator that used sex as a lure. This was not true all of the time, but for her, she had pushed all of her hungers into the blood and sex of being a vampire since she could not eat flesh. Unfortunately the other beasts within her had wanted flesh, so she had changed the hunger for eating flesh into another more sexual hunger for flesh.

Death's breathing was getting heavy and she could feel Death's power flowing through her. She pulled a final thread of pleasure through him and he shuddered letting out a moan of pleasure as she let him fall to the floor.

She licked the blood from her lips. Her eyes became heavy. She was full and still so very tired.

She slid from the bed and attempted to walk but only made it one step before collapsing. Death was beside her then gently lifting her from the ground.

"What did you do to me?" He asked her. If it were even possible, Death sounded frightened.

"I fed off of you." She said to him sleepily. Her eyes felt too heavy.

"Yes, but...it...hurt." He said. "But then it did not hurt, I suppose it was the opposite of hurt. This body reacted to what you did." He said confused.

"That is called pleasure." She said softly. "I didn't want to hurt you, but it hurts a little. I can turn the pain into pleasure." She felt herself being gently placed back on the bed. She knew she had to get home, but she was too tired to move. She closed her eyes. She felt Death slide into the bed next to her pulling her close. She knew she should protest, but she couldn't. Her mouth was no longer obeying her. His cool body was pressed against hers and she felt peaceful.

"This feels nice." He whispered in her ear. He pulled her tightly against him. She fell asleep in the comfort of Death's arms.

* * *

><p><strong>Nightmare's<strong> eyes snapped open. She had to get home. She pulled herself from Death's embrace. It was too easy, too peaceful here. She felt as if she could lay here for the rest of eternity.

Death opened his eyes and looked at her. She wasn't sure if he had been sleeping or if he had just been laying there with his eyes closed.

"I have to go." She said to him. "You have to take me back."

"Why?" He asked propping his head up on his hand. She looked at him and noticed he was still naked.

"Because there are people I love and I want to see them." She explained to him.

"What is love?" He asked her.

"Love is when you feel..." She moved her hands around looking for the word. _How did she explain love to a creature such as Death?_ She wondered. "There are many different kinds of love. There is love between your family, there is love of a particular object, there is also romantic love." She said to him.

"But what is Love?" He asked.

"Love is a feeling you have for someone other than yourself. A strong affection for that person." She said to him.

He seemed to think about that for a moment. "What is romantic love?" He asked.

She blew out a breath. "I suppose it feels like...you exist solely for that person. Being with that person makes you feel happy and full of joy. You need that person for reasons you can't even explain because they fill a part of you that you may never have even realized was missing. You want to be with them and listen to them and touch them because it brings you happiness and pleasure." She said to him.

"Pleasure?" He asked again as he looked down at himself. He was definitely interested in her at the moment.

"There are different kinds of pleasure, physical and mental. Love is both" She said to them.

"Why do you call me your old friend?" He asked.

"Because, you were always the one constant in my many lives. You gave me...comfort."

"So you love me like a friend?" He asked her.

She blinked. "I...don't know." She said in confusion.

He slid over to her and touched her cheek lightly. She was surprised by the fission of awareness that blazed through her.

"I've seen humans do this, and I have never understood it." Death said as he leaned in and kissed her. She wanted to pull away but she couldn't. She kissed him back. She finally pulled away.

"I have to go home." She whispered.

He looked at her intently but nodded. He slid from the bed pulling her along with him.

"You might want to put some clothes on." She said to him. He looked down at himself as dark black robes swirled around him. He looked at her for approval and she nodded.

"I will take you back." He said to her.

"Thank you." She said with relief.

He studied her intently. He reached out and touched her cheek. "I believe I have this thing you call love."

Nightmare looked at him in surprise. "For what?"

"For you. I want for you to be..." He frowned. "Happy." He said as if this concept was so foreign to him, he didn't really even understand what it meant.

"You think you love me?" She asked in shock.

"From what you have explained, I believe so." He said to her. "Do you believe you could return this thing you call love, to me?" He asked.

She opened her mouth to say no, but found she couldn't. She snapped her mouth shut. "It is possible." She said instead.

He nodded. "I can wait, I have all the time in the world." He said as he swung her up in his arms his wings spread out to their full span and she felt time stop as Death entered the 13th Hour, the time where no time existed.

* * *

><p><strong>Donatello's<strong> head shot up. A frission of awareness blazed through him. He felt his blood and flesh begin to burn with the need to be close to her.

She was back.

It hadn't been that long since she was gone, a couple hours at most. He stood up and ran from the room his brothers trailing after him.

He took the stairs two at a time and ran into her room. Death stood with Katherine clutched possessively in his arms. He set her down gently and then he was gone. "That was Death?" Raphael said in surprise. "That was not Death. Death is a 6 foot skeleton, he isn't some guy who looks like he is supposed to be on a magazine cover with the words '_World's Hottest'_ printed under it." Raphael said angrily.

Donatello took a step towards her and stumbled. She caught him before he fell. "You need to feed Donatello." Katherine said softly pulling him close, his head resting on her shoulder. No she was Nightmare. He needed to remind himself to call her and think of her as Nightmare.

"I can't. I'm starving but everything tastes repulsive to me." He said in a strained whisper." But she smelled good. She smelled intoxicatingly good.

"I believe that was me influencing you Donatello. I was too weak to close the connection between us so you were feeling the echo of what I was feeling."

He buried his face in her neck. He could feel his teeth begin to tingle. He opened his mouth and bit hard into her flesh. The blood poured into his mouth and instead of being repulsed at what he had just done and was doing , he felt elated. This is what he had wanted, this is what he needed.

He swallowed gulp after gulp of blood of coppery sweet blood. He could feel the power flow through him, giving him strength. He wanted to continue to drink forever, but he was full.

"Your technique has got to get better Donatello, you are not supposed to maul me." She said to him as he looked at her damaged neck that had already begun to heal.

Embarrassment and horror flowed through him. He looked over his shoulder at his brother's who were looking at him with varying degrees of shock and revulsion.

"Well I guess we know what Donny eats." Raphael growled.

Nightmare shook her head. "Donatello needed my blood because I pulled too much power from him, but he can eat mortal food and should not have to feed from me unless I pull power from and through him again."

Donatello could still feel the blood coursing through him. He felt full and content. His Mistress was back.

Nightmare stood and he stood with her.

* * *

><p><strong>Michelangelo<strong> looked at Donatello and Nightmare with worry.

"Donny said you were starving." Leonardo said to her.

"She was." Donatello said as he smiled and grabbed Nightmare, pulling her into him. He rubbed his cheek across her cheek.

Michelangelo found himself frowning at his brother. "Are you okay Donny?" Donatello's golden eyes looked at him.

"M'fine." Donatello mumbled.

"He looks drunk." Raphael said bluntly.

Michelangelo shook his head. Donatello looked a little drunk, but it was something else.

"I think possibly a little too much power has got him a little...sated would be a better word." Nightmare said as Donatello rubbed his cheek across hers again.

"He looks like a contented cat." Michelangelo said.

Nightmare nodded. "A good description." She said as she darted a glance at Leonardo. "He's been fed, his Mistress is home, an all is right in his world. He is having some down time." She said with a wince.

"So what, Donny's your pet?" Raphael said with disgust.

Nightmare winced again. "He could be." She mumbled. "But it is the demon within him at the moment, not actually Donatello who is making him act this way."

"Wait, so the blood thirsty killer wants his tummy rubbed after a long day of protecting you?" Raphael bit out.

"Apparently." Nightmare grumbled. "Okay Donatello, you are letting your demon ride you, so cut it out." Nightmare said with irritation. "I want you to learn to control your demon. I don't want you to be controlled by it."

"Yes Mistress." Donatello said as he stopped rubbing his cheek against hers.

"And don't call me Mistress. I feel like I should be dressed in black leather, holding a whip and asking you if you've been a bad boy."

"Yes..." Donatello seemed stumped at what to call her.

Nightmare sighed. "Until you get your demon set straight you can call me Mistress." She said with a shrug. "I have way too much to do." She groaned and rubbed her temples. "I'm going back to bed." She grumbled. "I'm still tired."

Raphael reached out a hand and stopped her. "What was up with Death?" He asked softly.

Nightmare pulled out of his grasp and walked over to the bed throwing herself down onto the bed. "Death's in love with me." She grumbled. She yawned ss Donatello followed Nightmare to the bed and crawled into the bed curling himself around her and closing his eyes.

Nightmare sighed and patted Donatello's shoulder. "You'll shake him eventually. Maybe when you get some rest." She said to him softly.

"What do you mean Death's in love with you!" Raphael growled.

"I love you Raphael, Michelangelo, Donatello, Leoanrdo. Don't ever forget that." She said softly, Raphael's question remaining unanswered. Nightmare had fallen asleep, so too had thier brother.

Raphael growled in frustration, but Leonardo put a restraining hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Come on Raph." Leonardo said as he pulled Raphael out of the room.

Michelangelo took one last look at Nightmare curled up in the bed with his brother and gently closed the door behind him.

"We should go check on April." He said softly.

Leonardo's eyes widened slightly but gave a curt nod of acknowledgement.

They checked on Casey and April who they found to be sleeping soundly in the room they had used when they had last stayed.

They walked down to the kitchen where they all sat in silence for a few minutes, each buried in their own thoughts.

He looked at Leonardo in concern. His brother looked as if he was deep in thought, a frown on his face. "Why us Mikey?" Leonardo asked looking at him.

He frowned at his brother in confusion. "Why us what Leo?" He asked.

"Why did she love us? Why does she love us?" He asked quietly. "I get why she loved Raph and Donny, but why us?" There was almost a desperate edge to his voice.

Raphael watched him as if he too was curious if he had some deep insight into Katherine's mind. "I don't know Leo." He said with a shake of his head. "I get why she loves Raph and Donny, but I don't know why she loved us, still loves us." He said softly. "Darkness said her world influenced this one, so maybe it's because of her." He said with a shrug.

"Yes, but that still doesn't explain the why?" He insisted. Michelangelo looked at his brother and understood then. Katherine's love was something that was too great, too awe inspiring to ever be able to turn away from or move past. He knew his brother was in love with Miriam, but it was obvious that whatever their relationship was, comparing it to the love he had for Katherine was too great a pull for him to stay with Miriam, if that had even been an option.

"I don't know Leo." He said softly. And for him he didn't really care why, just that she did. He knew that she loved himself and Leonardo as much as she loved Raphael and Donatello, even though she was bound to them.

"Darkness said it was because Katherine's soul is that of a star. She is infinite in her ability to love because she doesn't possess the restrictions of a mortal soul. Her soul is just too old." He said softly.

"Yeah and she loves Gabriel and Sam too." Raphael said softly. 'How do we compete with that, with them?" Raphael asked anger leaking into his voice.

Michelangelo frowned in thought. Something was bothering him. Something he knew he was missing. "We don't Raph." Michelangelo said softly. He pondered Nightmare's relationship with the Fallen and whatever it was the Gabriel was. He supposed Gabriel was like Samael from Darkness' world. He was her minion of sorts. He frowned again. What was he missing? _Why would they forget that she loved them?_ He wondered. A feeling of trepidation flowed through him.


	16. Chapter 16

**A big thank you to Griffon of the Night and BlueRose03 for your awesome reveiws and support! =)**

**I didn't think I would be able to post anything until Monday, but I was able to get things done, so here you go, hope you all enjoy.**

**Ack accidentally uploaded Rouge chapter 16 I apologize!**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 16<span>

**Donatello** opened his eyes. He looked around him at the massive library. He recognized that he must be in Nightmare's Memory Room.

Nightmare was sitting thoughtfully in a cherry red wing chair staring at the purple flames that danced in the grate. He frowned as he studied the room. There was something wrong with it. He remembered what Darkness' Memory Room looked like, being split in half between Actual Darkness' memories and Katherine's memories. He would have understood if Nightmare's room was split between Katherine and the Nightmare godhede, but he remembered Katherine had said that she had read up on the other world's counterparts. So he had to assume that the Nightmare godhede's memories were locked within a book as well. So whatever was sharing the space with Katherine's Memories was not her godhede.

And whatever it was, it had not split the room cleanly down the middle. It looked more like a shadow had moved slowly along the books and shelves. Wherever the shadow had touched had turned everything, the shelves, the books, the floor the walls, the tapestries, everything, black, silver and a deep purple.

"The fire never used to burn purple." Nightmare said softly.

"So what is happening?" He asked as he strode over to her. He knelt down and curled himself around her legs, holding them tightly to his chest. There was part of him that recognized that he was still acting like a pet. The demon that now rode his soul wanted to continually touch his Mistress, be near her, and sought her approval. He tried to fight against what his instincts, what he felt as if he needed to do, but couldn't. The desire was too strong.

"I don't know." She said softly. "The memories contained within the books are being...warped." She said with a frown.

"Warped?" He asked her confusion.

"Yes, warped. As you know, the books contain all of my memories. Life after life, death after death. But the memories themselves are beginning to be altered. Not the actual events that are portrayed, but I suppose the best way to explain it would be to say that the perspective is being changed."

"To what?" He asked as he lay his head down on her leg. She touched the side of his cheek and he almost purred. He could feel it, the need as he attempted to stamp down the reaction. A soft purr escaped anyway. It was a soft contented sound that rumbled in his chest.

Nightmare looked down at him in shock. "Are you purring?"

He stopped purring because he could sense his Mistress was displeased. He shook off these thoughts.

Nightmare sighed. "We have to break the Covenant. I can't have you this way Donatello. You need to have your own free will back." She frowned as she studied the ever creeping shadow.

"How do we break it?" He questioned.

"We can't. Break it I mean. Only my death will break the chains."

"You can't die, I just found you again." He said his voice cracking in fear.

"Nothing is forever Donatello, even the gods. I know my circle of Fate needs to close. The manner and result of Katherine's death is throwing the Universe out of balance and the Universe must always be in balance. Her death must be corrected."

"Katherine...you died. There is no circle of Fate. Everyone believes that you are dead. Your friends, family, the gods, everyone. Katherine was supposed to die, and she did. Kaethryn told Raphael that they were Fated and in his dream he saw you wrapped in Death's arms. Katherine died. No circle of Fate."

Nightmare's eyes widened. "Katherine was wrapped in Deaths arms?" She asked softly.

Donatello looked up at her. "Yes." He said in confusion as Nightmare stood. She began to pace furiously. Her tail lashing from side to side .

"I can't break the chains, but I could possibly alter the Covenant so that when the chains break, they won't kill you." She said thoughtfully.

Donatello frowned. "But if the chains break it means that I have failed in my promise." He whispered in dread.

"Yes, it would, but my death is the only way the chains can break."

"I can't fail in my duty towards you. I am supposed to protect you, even if I die doing it." He said fiercely.

"I know. Though I suppose that the chains began to reform even after Katherine had died, and you survived. I shall have to think on it. It will take, I suspect, time and power to twist the Covenant into something that I find acceptable." She said thoughtfully.

"There is no circle of Fate." Donatello said to her. "If you die, I die with you. I will suffer the chains for eternity because I will not live another day without you." He growled as he stood angrily.

"Donatello, stand on one foot."

He frowned but complied. "Now sing Britney Spears' _I'm a slave 4 U_."

Donatello didn't even think he knew the song, but he opened his mouth and began to sing_. __I know I may be young, but I've got feelings too._ /_And I need to do what I feel like doing./So let me go and just listen.  
><em>  
>"Stop." She ordered<p>

He stopped singing.

"Jump up and down." He jumped.

"Quack like a duck." He began quaking like a duck and jumping up and down because she hadn't told him to stop.

"Stop." He stopped and looked at her in horror.

"Now you understand Donatello. You must obey everything that I tell you to do. You have no will of your own. I could order you to not obey me in everything, to allow you your free will, but I don't believe it will work. It may help, but if I place any amount of power into the command I can control you. And I do not wish for that."

"I know you would never make me do anything that I wouldn't or couldn't do." He whispered as he tried to control a small sliver of dread.

"It isn't about me telling you or not telling you to do something. It is about free will, and you not having any. I could be not thinking and tell you to be quiet. You would not be able to talk again until I told you you could. And if I needed you to do something awful you would have to obey me. I could order you to kill someone. Rip them limb from limb and there would be nothing you could do about it. I can't have you that way Donatello, I just can't."

Donatello looked at her. Fear was riding hot and furious along his skin. It lodged in his throat and tried to choke him. He knew, deep down that she was right. No matter how happy his demon was at the moment, basking in her presence, he knew what he was feeling was wrong.

He swallowed. "We don't know if telling me to have free will won't work. Try." He said to her.

"Donatello I command you to not obey me in everything, I give you back your free will and the ability to disobey me." She said to him.

He didn't feel any different. "Cluck like a chicken." Nightmare said to him.

He didn't want to cluck like a chicken. He didn't move.

Nightmare looked at him thoughtfully. "Jump up and down and touch your nose."

Again he didn't move.

Nightmare looked at him. "Bow down before me." She commanded. The strength of her will rode over him in a crushing wave. But he resisted.

Nightmare nodded and looked at him grimly. "You must protect me Donatello. There is a threat to my life." He felt his skin begin to vibrate. There was danger. He could actually feel his eyes beginning to bleed golden-red. He listened intently for his orders. "Kill your brothers." She commanded.

Horror at her words burned through him. "Yes Mistress." He replied. He had no choice because she had ordered it, and her survival depended on his brother's deaths.

"Ignore my last command." She said to him. "You may be able to gain more of your will back if you fix your soul. You were able to resist a direct order, until it came to my safety. You will do anything to protect me, even at the expense of your brother's lives." She said steadily.

He frowned and nodded. Nightmare had done all she could for him. It would be up to him to do the rest. He looked at Nightmare uneasily. There was something niggling at the back of his brain, trying to tell him something important.

He watched as a piece of shadow flowed closer. "What happens when the shadow covers everything?" He asked her.

"I don't know." She said to him.

"What do you mean the perspective is being changed?"

"The horror of my deaths is lessening." She said. "Death does not seem like such a bad thing. It just is. It is a natural aspect of Life. You cannot have one without the other."

"But?"

"But it does not mean that I should view my murders as something that happens. It was my Fate, all has led me to this moment in time, but now the memories are not as harsh."

"And that is a bad thing?" He asked

"No. It is not bad, it is just different. I feel as though every death was a gift, a cherished memory of something that had gone right. As a being of life, this should not be."

Donatello looked at the shadow. "But it isn't hurting you?" He asked.

"No, it worries me. I am trying to figure out what it is I should do; What I am suppose to do. Though I suppose I have almost all of the pieces of the puzzle. It now has a picture and it now makes sense. There are however a few pieces left that must be put into play. Like the pieces on a chess board, like dominoes set up and ready to fall. Everything must be aligned perfectly, all in the correct position, all falling where they must. All moving as they must move. Including myself."

"There is no circle of Fate." Donatello said to her, slippery dread sliding through him at her words.

"Katherine died, but her body does not rest in her grave. I know this seems like a small thing, many people are not buried under their headstones, but death is death I yet live in the body I inhabited in life. Vampires, ghouls and others can exist this way because their bodies are dead. They have life but are not alive. I am alive in the truest sense of the word. I may call myself Nightmare, but the Universe is very well aware of _who I am_. So my Fate will catch up with me one day, because it must."

Donatello shook his head fiercely. "You don't get to just give up and accept your Fate."

Nightmare laughed. "I have never just given up and accepted my Fate Donatello. But I have a Destiny." She said with a smile. "And I suppose now is a good a time as any to grab Destiny and tell her "Let's dance."

She strode through a door by the fireplace and he followed.

They entered through burgundy double doors into a round chamber. He looked at Katherine's soul. It was standing in the center of the room, bound in golden chains, looking as if it had been shattered and put back together. "Your soul is still broken." He said softly.

"Yes, it is. But I understand what I must do to fix it." She said looking at her soul thoughtfully.

Katherine's soul was holding what looked like two souls, one in each hands. "Are you holding two souls?" He asked in confusion.

"Yes, my soul holds two souls." She said with a nod.

He studied the golden chains that bound them together. His body was covered much like Katherine's soul was. He then looked at the silver cord that stretched between himself and Nightmare.

"But neither of those is mine." He said as he again looked at the souls.

"No, neither is yours, because I do not literally hold your soul. Your soul exists within your own body. We are bound however." She pointed to the silver cord. He nodded as he studied the souls.

"Whose souls are they?" He asked.

"Lucifer and Michael. I have eaten their souls, but it seems that I did not consume them, nor did they just disintegrate. My soul has harboured them within her. Interesting, isn't it? So I have the soul of two Fallen's. Two Devils who were angels. Lucifer is the red soul. His Light tainted by his betrayal in Heaven. Michael Fell but his light was never tainted because he did not actually betray Heaven itself, just its rules. But if you look closely you can see the spark of red within his soul, the darkness that resided within him. As for Lucifer, you can still see the golden-blue spark that proclaimed him an angel and not just a demon. So I have,"

"Yin and Yang." Donatello said abstractedly.

"Essentially yes. So the next question is, what to do with these two lovely souls?"

"Can you gain power from them?" He asked as he watched the souls pulse in Katherine's hands.

"As they are right now, no, but I think I have an idea." She said with a smile. "You see I need more power than what Yggdrasil can give me, much, much more." She turned serious. "The barriers around our world are beginning to buckle and fail. Things from Betwixt and Between are slipping through and they are hungry.

"What do you mean _things_?" Donatello asked as he remembered the thin grey thing that had devoured the human couple within a moment of time.

"The Fae. My presence acted much like a beacon in the dark. Earth had become a inhospitable place for the Fae. Too much iron, not enough magic. But now, magic burns and blazes through the Earth, powered by myself and distributed by Yggdrasil. And the iron, well, as long as the magic is strong enough the iron will still hurt, still kill, but they can shield against the presence of it."

"The Fae, as in faries?" Donatello asked in confusion.

"Yes Faries, but these are true fairies, the ones from the darker tales of the Brothers Grimm, the old wives tales of stolen children, of men being led to watery graves. And those are the tales involving the Seelie court. The Court of the Unseelie, well, they are truly the stuff of Nightmares. Gabriel has been attempting to negotiate between the two courts and stop their progress, but as I said, the Fae wish to romp and play, kill and slaughter as they had. They miss Earth. The walls were always strong, but there were always places where the walls were too thin. Now they have begun slipping through, weakening the barriers even more."

"Why are none of the other gods doing anything about this?" Donatello asked angrily.

Nightmare sighed. "A few reasons. One reason is that they are mine. They are creatures of magic existing on a plain of existence that weaves and winds through our own. I do not wish to hurt them because as I said, they are mine. They are also, many of them, gods in their own right. Many were worshipped by humans millennia ago and the old gods remember this. They are not powerful enough to take on these fallen gods, powered as they are by my magic. Another reason is that I and Gabriel are the only ones able to pass through to Betwixt and Between to confront them. But if I do not stop them they shall overrun Earth and humanity will fall.

"Your loyatly is split." Donatello said in shock. "You don't want them to hurt humanity, but at the same time they are almost like..." He tried to come up with an analogy. "Your children."

"Children is a little strong of a word, but essentially yes." She said softly. "So I must find a compromise of sorts." Nightmare's gaze went back to her soul. "I must reclaim my humanity if I wish to be able to do what must be done."

Trepidation rolled through him. "What must be done?" He asked slowly.

Nightmare just smiled and her smile gave him chills.

* * *

><p><strong>Nightmare<strong> looked at her broken soul. She needed to _be_ Katherine, because if she remained as she was, she would not have the strength of will required to do what needed to be done. Gods were weak beings. Petty, selfish, greedy, self-serving. They had no conscience because they did not need one. There was no right and wrong for them, there just was. Good and Evil were merely human constructs that the godly mind could not fathom, because they never saw their actions in such black and white terms. Theirs was a world of grey, not even light or dark greys, just one flat line of endless grey.

And besides this, her humanity is the only thing that would save her from what was happening in her Memory Room. Whatever the shadow was, it was essentially erasing her memories of their humanity, and she could not let herself become like the other gods.

She could feel Donatello looking at her with worry. Darkness had said that one day she would be okay with having _been_ Katherine, but Nightmare was okay with actually _being _her. She rolled this thought around in her head.

She _was_ Katherine. But now that she was willing to accept this, the question that needed to be answered was whether or not she would be able to stay sane by becoming her. She gently reached out and touched her soul. "I am stronger than any mortal has the right to be, but I am Katherine Brooks and I control my Fate, and I control my soul."

She watched in amazement as her soul began to glow gold, the fractures that ran through her soul began to lessen and heal.

Nightmare felt her soul ring. She doubled over. All of her emotions that had been muffled suddenly became crystal clear. She hadn't even realized that what she had been feeling was the barest echo of everything she _could_ feel. Raphael was vibrant in her mind's eye. His soul ringing perfectly with hers. Donatello's presence was blazing, his soul linked with hers. Leonardo and Michelangelo came into focus intriguing her all over again. They were all hers, in different ways, but hers none the less.

The horror of Hell came rushing back to her. The pain the agony, the despair, the feeling of helpless eternity. The torment of seeing the images of the men she loved used for nothing more than to try to break her body, her spirit, and finally her soul.

Nightmare threw back her head and screamed as every visceral image blasted through her brain and senses. Katherine had spent 74 years in Hell being tortured, and those 74 years had felt like an eternity.

She felt hot salty tears run down her cheeks as she collapsed into a shivering ball of misery.

She felt Donatello's arms encircle and hold her. He could hear him whisper soft words in her ear, but she couldn't understand him. His arms were warm which was strange because he had always been so cool to the touch. But his body temperature was now more like her own.

This thought snapped her out of the memory induced misery. She had won. In the end, they couldn't break her, and she had saved Heaven, saved Earth and killed her tormenters.

She stopped shaking and took a deep breath letting it out slowly. She no longer had to breath, but did so out of habit. She smiled then.

She had won. Period. And she could face what was coming because she _had_ to, and because she _could_.

She could have bent to the demands of the gods, killed April's child and found another way of dealing with the Fae. And even though there was part of her that knew that risking the universe for one child was ridiculous, she knew in her heart, that she would make the decision again, because it was the _right _decision.

Donatello helped her to stand. "I'm okay." She said softly. "And still sane." She said with a shaky laugh.

Donatello looked at her with concern. "My soul is fixed. Your turn." She said as she shoved him from her Soul Room into his own.


	17. Chapter 17

**A big giant thank you to forgottenforever who pointed out that I had accidentally uploaded chapter 16 of Rogue rather than chapter 16 of Morning Star! It was bound to happen having both fics going at the same time, I'm just surprised it hadn't happened already!**

**Please enjoy!**

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><p><span>Chapter 17<span>

**Donatello** wasn't sure what had happened. One minute Nightmare was touching her soul, the next Katherine appeared where Nightmare had been. She had collapsed into a ball of wretchedness that had nearly broke his heart. He had talked to her and told her how sorry he was that they hadn't saved her. That she was the bravest person that he had ever known. Everything and anything he could think of.

Katherine's form had switched back to Nightmare as she stood. But there was something in her eyes that had been missing before, and Donatello knew that Katherine was back. She was still Nightmare, because she had experienced over 2000 years of ruling Hell and being a goddess, but there was something that now resided in her eyes, that he would think of, as human.

Dontatello looked at her in concern. "My soul is fixed, your turn." She said as he felt her push.

He felt slightly disoriented. He shook his head to clear it and settle his stomach. He looked around him. It looked as if he were in his workroom. All of his tools and lab equipment were just as he had left them. Raphael's motorcycle, and truck were behind him. The motorcycle was covered in the tarp he had placed on it when he had diagnosed Raphael's blindness as being permanent.

He walked over to the tarp and gently touched it. Memory flooded and raged through him plunging him into the moment when he looked at his brother's badly slashed face. Raphael had thankfully been unconscious. It had taken over 100 stitches to sew his brothers face back together again. The swelling around Raphael's eyes had been so bad that it had taken nearly two weeks for the swelling to go down. It had taken a month for Raphael to open his eyes and regain consciousness. Another two weeks before he realized that his brother's eyesight was never going to return.

He let go of the tarp, the memory fading.

"Well isn't that heartwrenching." His voice said from over his shoulder.

Donatello turned around quickly as he looked at himself, or not himself. This version of himself wore a black mask over his eyes, a black turtleneck, jeans and a long black leather trench coat. He was leisurely swinging his bo around in one hand.

"Sentimentality will kill you every time." He said. "You should be smart enough to know this, but your soft heart always did get us into trouble. You just had to save the girl didn't you?" His dark self chuckled. "Not that I am complaining. After all, you let me out, and now I am so much more that I was." His eyes glowed golden-red. He smiled viciously revealing his sharp canines.

"You're my demon." He said softly.

"And they call you the genius." He said with a shake of his head. "At least Nightmare will let me out to play every once in a while. You never did." He said almost sullenly. He smiled then. "So now that you are here I am going to assume that Nightmare sent you in here to try to...how shall I put this, fix me, if you will. She no doubt wants us to cease the lovely Jekyll and Hyde impersonation we are doing and finally become one consciousness again." He shook his head. "But truthfully, I don't think you can handle me. Do you think you can handle doing what needs to be done? Can you become the monster Nightmare needs you to be to protect her with your life?" He asked angrily.

Donatello shook his head. He swallowed through the lump that was in his throat.

His dark self snorted. "I didn't think so. All those brains and you still don't think very logically do you?"

"I think more logically than you do. All you want to do is rip bodies apart, kill, and destroy. A killing machine with no conscience! All you want to be is Nightmare's faithful pet!" He growled in disgust.

Dark Donatello threw back his head and laughed. "Of course I want to be her pet." He said with a shake of his head. "You have no idea how powerful Nightmare actually is. You have no concept of how lucky you are to serve her. She loves you, and me. She loves us so completely and absolutely, that to bask in the warmth of her approval and love is the only thing I wish from her, for all eternity. But we won't have that long." Dark Donatello grumbled.

"You're talking about what Nightmare is planning." Donatello said as he studied his darker half.

His dark self rubbed his eyes with his thumb and finger. "No kidding. Very astute. Though I suppose you were technically buried deep within your own consciousness when everything went down in the Sacred Circle of the Primeval Forest, which means absolutely nothing to you." He said with a shake of his head.

Dark Donatello walked over to his computer desk and threw himself into the chair. He huffed out an irritated breath. "You are so smart and know so much, and yet here you, struggle like a newborn babe trying to make sense of the impossible."

"That's because this isn't my world. This world, Nightmares world, makes no sense at all!" He said in irritation.

"That is because you are trying to make sense of it. You are trying to make sense of it by using mortal reasoning. And you are now no longer mortal. Once you accept that, it will begin to make more sense. It is a world where reality is overlaid with irrationality. When you feel an earthquake you know it is because tectonic plates in the earth are shifting. But what you must realize, is that it is also because Gaia is moving shifting, sleeping, stretching, any number of things. The storm that rages and comes out of nowhere on the open sea, is the result of shifting winds and tidal changes, but it is also the result of Neptune's anger. It is both at the same time. Wrap your head around that and you will begin to understand that there is not just one reality, there are many."

Donatello glared at his dark self. "What is Nightmare planning, what did I miss while I was...sleeping." He said because he had been dead and then not. He didn't remember anything in-between.

His dark self sighed. "Nightmare messed up the balance of the Universe. In multiple ways actually. Firstly she exists, which she shouldn't because she should be dead. Secondly because of her existence the barriers between worlds is thinning. Betwixt and Between exists between...everything. It exists between life and death, Heaven and Hell, the time between when the sun rises and the night retreats, where land ends and the sky begins. It holds our worlds together, but it must always remain separate or else there would exist no more places Between. The whole world would cave in upon itself. Thirdly, she is too powerful. As I said the gods have no idea what kind of power she has the ability to summon. If the gods knew they would be shaking in their little booties. Especially considering they tried to Destroy her." He shook his head. "She won't forget that, and when the gods try again, and they will try again, because the gods are too stupid to learn for their mistakes, well, the result will be one more piece on the chessboard that Nightmare needs to do what she plans, and she only has 16 years before what comes to pass happens. That is her mark, 16 years from the moment the Child is born."

"Sixteen years until what?" Donatello asked the dark sticky feeling of dread filling him. His dark self looked at him like he was an idiot. Not that he blamed him. "How do you know so much? If you are me how do you know all this?" He asked.

"I exist within you now, but I am a demon. I was nothing. A spirit pulled from place to place by the wind. Forever drifting, tumbling and searching for something, anything. I was so insignificant that I was not Known. No name, no power, no influence over anything. Mortals could not even hear me when I whispered in their ears, the secrets of the Universe. But Nightmare chose me, summoned me, picked me. A spirit that was so insignificant, so powerless, and gave me a chance to be something more, to be by her side and serve her." His darker self stood.

Donatello stepped back as menace slowly rolled off of his dark self. "And they believe you to be the smart one."

Donatello heard growling coming from behind him. He looked over his shoulder at the shadow that was staring at him. It was in the shape of a dragon the size of a really large dog. The shadowy shape was crouched and waiting to pounce. Malice, anger, hunger, rage, and thirst, prima,l carnal urges rolled and danced along every tense cord of muscle in the demon that faced him. It's eyes glittered red and contained ancient knowledge that was so vast, so unending that it had become simple. Mate, live, feast, kill, die. It was all that it knew.

Donatello was yanked back, the thick wood of his dark self's bo crushed his throat as his body slammed against his darker self.

He struggled against the iron grip of his dark self while his dark self chuckled with dark anticipation.

"Let us see who will win." The demon looked at him and pounced.

Claws ripped and dug into his flesh as he screamed. Pain blossomed and crawled through every part of his body until there was nothing left. There was was nothing. He had lost. He had fallen to the demon. Emptiness stretched before him. An eternity of nothing but the dark empty yawning realization of his pathetic failure. He knew he was weak. He had always been strong in both body and mind, but in spirit, he knew he had never had the strength, the fortitude needed to exist in a world where spirit was more important that any amount of muscle or brains you possessed.

He didn't know how Katherine could ever love such a weak creature as himself. How she could ever have trusted him to be able to win against something that was so old, so ancient, and so filled with all of the carnal, feral forces of the universe at its beck and call?

He had failed her. Again. All he had ever done was fail her. He was useless. The demon would protect her, be able to do what needed to be done, with no thought no conscience, no moral compass to distinguish between right and wrong.

A thought struck him them. He was to his demon as Katherine was to Nightmare. She needed his humanity as much as she needed her own. She needed him. He hadn't failed her yet, he needed her and she needed him.

He thought furiously. He could win, he could stare into the darkness and win. Because he and the demon had points in common. He just had to accept that he would need to be strong, he would have to accept and be okay with becoming the monster Nightmare needed him to be, and yet still have the strength of will to say No.

He would have to kill, he was a warrior, he knew the risks of battle, of war, the consequences and the sacrifices that needed to be made. And they were involved in a war, he just hadn't realized it. They were in a war against gods, against the primal forces of the Universe, against otherworldly beings and against Fate herself.

He and his brothers were just too blind to realize that Nightmare was fighting for her life, and he was going to be there by her side when the final battle erupted around her. Because he loved her. His love was more than the demon could ever understand because his love for her was more than just duty and need and worship. He loved her with his very soul, and he was going to be by her side.

HE WAS GOING TO BE BY HER SIDE!

Donatello gasped as he opened his eyes. Power raged and flowed through him in a torrent of images, smells, tastes, sounds and feelings. He felt as if he had been blind to the world and now every visceral sense was ringing with true clarity.

Donatello swallowed as he tried to control impulses that warred with needs he had never before experienced.

He Hungered.

What he had felt before was nothing. The hunger he had felt was only a small part of what his mortal mind could grasp. This need inside of him, this desire, this instinct had teeth and claws and an insatiable lust for flesh, for blood, for destruction, for power. And he wanted it all.

"Breathe Donatello, breathe." Nightmare's soft voice drifted through his Hunger induced haze.

Donatello looked into her eyes and was caught by her green gaze. Thoughts tumbled around in his head. She was his Mistress, without her he was nothing, but she was so much more than that. She was his world, but then, she had always been his world.

"You have never known this Hunger Donatello. It rips and claws at your body, mind and soul. There are so many hungers that are waging war within you, and you must learn to control the Hunger. Because it is now a Beast that lives inside you.

Donatello shook his head. "I feel like I am burning from the inside out." He said in a strained whisper.

Nightmare smiled at him. "I am glad you conquered your demon Donatello, but now you ARE the demon."

Fear flashed through him, but he stomped it down. He was still him. He knew he was still who he was, just slightly different.

He looked at his Mistress, his lover, his goddess, his Devil, his soul mate. He rolled on top of her, pinning her to the soft mattress.

"Is this how you feel all the time?" He asked softly as he studied her face. He looked at her as if he had truly never seen her. Her skin was opalescent, not actually being made up of just white, but rather too many colours to begin to even name. All softly blended together to give her the beautiful white skin she possessed. Her hair was the same, possessed of too many shades and hues all blending together to make one whole. Her green eyes glowed at him, luminous in their intensity, in their beauty. He traced the edge of a furry ear, the soft curve of a ram-like horn, touched the gentle softness of obsidian coloured feathers.

He was left in awe of her. That such a being as she had chosen him, had decided that it was he that was worth spending an eternity with.

Possessiveness clawed and burned through him. She was _his_.

His lips drew back from his teeth. A low growl was issued from his throat.

"Your body will always burn with Need Donatello. Thirst, Hunger, Lust, violence, blood, flesh, every tiny need magnified a thousand times. But you will learn to control it."

"You are _mine_." He growled at her.

"Yes, I am. forever and always, but you are not the only one in my heart Donatello."

He growled lower. The rumbling of his chest sounding like a bass drum. He closed his eyes as he fought against every instinct that was screaming through him.

"I want to make you mine Nightmare. Truly mine. Please." He begged because if he didn't he felt as if he was going to burn to nothing but ash.

"I can't Donatello. I want to so badly, but I can't. I made a promise, and besides the time is not yet right. But I want to touch you, and I want you to touch me. I crave your touch, I need your touch."

He already had stripped her of what little clothing she wore by the time she finished talking. His own clothes had been torn off and shredded by Nightmare's frustrated and hurried movements.

He kissed her with pent up need and passion. He was overwhelmed by the need to touch every little bit of her.

He spread her legs and plunged a finger into her. She gasped in shock as he continued his assault on her mouth. He stroked her until she was gasping and begging him for release. Her skin was glowing softly with pale light. Her green eyes, dark with desire, were glowing a bright intense moss green. He buried his face in her neck and bit hard. She froze as her salty, warm, coppery blood filled his mouth as he drank it down.

He knew that his body wanted sex, and blood and that even though he knew he could eat mortal food, he didn't want to. Nightmare arched beneath him as she called out his name in pleasure.

"Renfield said something very true Donatello." She whispered in his ear. " 'The Blood is the life." Nightmare said softly as she bit hard into his neck. He pulled away slightly in shock at the pain that blossomed and rode through his body. He nearly screamed in agony as his very veins screamed in pain as the blood was forced and pulled from him. His breath hitched then as the pain rolled into a pleasure so sharp, so intense, that his body felt as if it were breaking into a thousand tiny pieces. His world shattered as his orgasm crashed through him.

He pulled away from Nightmare as he looked at her. He passionately kissed her bloodstained mouth.

His mind had stopped functioning a while ago, but he was pulled back to reality by a soft wind that stirred the ties of his mask. He looked at the vast forest that stretched out around him. Trees bigger than anything that existed presently on earth, surrounded them. He recognized the center of the house, but it was different, so very different.

He could hear the gentle lapping of water nearby. He felt as if he was being watched. A creature glided through the dense forest. Pure white wings were arched back against a white leonine back. It's tail moved slowly from side to side and it's intense blue eyes looked at them from a predatory raptor's face.

He watched as the pure white griffon that slowly stalked towards them, began to change shape until there was a beautiful naked man standing beside them. Gentle white wings pulled closely to his body, his lion's tail languidly moving back and forth.

Donatello's lips pulled back from blood-stained teeth. He let out a growl that rumbled deep in his throat.

"Hello Gabriel." Nightmare said as Gabriel knelt next to Nightmare on the soft cool grass they now lay on.

"Hello my love." Gabriel said as he curled up beside her.

Donatello continued to growl low in his throat. "I summoned him Donatello, quit growling."

He stopped growling. He closed his eyes and tried to shake the demon part of his brain a little. Though no matter which side of his brain he was thinking with, he still didn't like that there was another, very naked man, laying beside the woman he loved.

Gabriel looked at him. "We are two sides of the same whole you and I." He said softly.

Donatello studied Gabriel. His eyes widened as he realized that he could see blue chains that bound Gabriel. He was not bound in the same way, but he was bound with a promise as well. He was her Familiar as well.

"Is Samael your Familiar as well?" Donatello asked in shock.

"No. Azazel is the Second Prince of Hell and my consort. Gabriel is not my Familiar, he is my servant."

Gabriel bowed his head his long golden ringlets shifting slightly. He looked at Nightmare and Donatello could see the naked need and lust that entered the other man's eyes.

Nightmare ran a finger down Gabriel's chest and the man shuddered with need.

"The circle needs more power." Gabriel said after a moment.

"I know." Nightmare said as she stood up. White robes covered their bodies.

Nightmare touched his and Gabriel's shoulders. He let out a scream as power was ripped and channelled through him.

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><p><strong>Kinda enjoyed Dark Donatello, though I think he kinda sounds a little like Raph...hmmmm<strong>


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

**Raphael** stomped down the hall in anger. He opened the door to Katherine's room and saw what he had been seeing for nearly two months now. Katherine, Donatello and Gabriel locked in a _working_. Katherine's door shouldn't have opened up to the lake, but it did. Supposedly the house, or Tree was giving them easier access instead of having to find the center of the house through secret passages. Donatello was kneeling on the ground hands splayed against the calm unmoving surface of the stood a foot from Donatello arms raised in a V, hair gently moving in a wind that did not exist. Gabriel mirrored Donatello''s position. All three figures were in the center of a massive magic circle that covered the entirety of the lake. Three other circles surrounded the three figures. One was vertical, the other two diagonally crossing the central circle. It reminded him of the stuff Donatello had always worked on, he thought it was the symbol for an atom.

Raphael felt himself growl in frustration. After Nightmare had been abducted by Death and returned, Nightmare and Donatello had slept for three days straight. On the fourth day, when he and his brothers had gone to check on them, they had found what he was currently looking at. And they had been this way for almost two months.

According to Samael, Nightmare was creating a massive _working_ or spell. Whatever it was, Samael said that it was very complex. Samael had explained that the circle they were standing in was just a protective circle to keep anything from entering.

The diagonal circle on the one side had something to do with April's baby, some sort of heavy duty protection spell. The vertical circle was twisting a promise, whatever that meant, and the final diagonal circle was also to do with April's child, something to do with twining Destinies together. This last circle was the most bothersome, because unlike the other three circles that glowed golden, this one glowed with a hint of red.

Raphael sighed and sat down next to April. "Any change?" He asked her.

She shook her head.

April spent a lot of time sitting by the lake. He couldn't say he blamed her. He didn't know how he would feel if he knew his child was sitting at the bottom of the lake, being fed by some big giant tree. But he supposed the easiest way to think about it, was that she was going to be fine and he knew that Nightmare was going to protect that child with everything she had, and was doing so even now.

"Raph, I'm scared." She whispered.

He looked at his friend in shock. He put an arm around her shoulders. "I know April." He said softly. He wasn't normally good at the sentimental stuff, but he supposed time and grief had changed him. The shield of anger that he had used to block out anything and everything, was gone. It had shattered with Katherine's death and he didn't want to replace it, life was too short.

"It's just...how am I going to raise a child who isn't human?" She whispered.

"April, Starlight and Starbright weren't human, and you wouldn't even know it." He said softly. "Besides, you and Case can handle anything, and we'll be there every step of the way."

April looked at him and nodded. "Except for Donny." She said sadly.

Raphael knew April was missing Donatello. Even though Donatello was still alive and still in control, Donatello was Nightmare's servant, her Familiar and he would do anything and stop at nothing to protect her, even if it meant his own life or someone else's. Raphael would have liked to have thought he would react the same way and he would protect Nightmare with everything he had, but he knew there were lines he would never cross, and he also knew that Donatello no longer had any lines he wouldn't. But he was hopeful that his brother would regain his usual demeanour as soon as the damn working was finished.

"I know April, but Donny and Nightmare will be there too. We just have to give Donny time." He paused and then continued. "After watching him die, I'm just glad that he's still alive, no matter how it happened." He finished quietly.

April nodded a tear falling silently down her face.

Raphael turned as he heard Casey and Leonardo approach. He watched as April hastily wiped away her tears and pasted a smile on her face.

"We've grabbed almost everything that we needed from the apartment April, but the guys are going back for one more load. Is there anything else you can think of that we will need?" He asked her as she stood.

"No." She shook her head. April's eyes slid to Leonardo. "Are you sure Nightmare won't mind us staying here a for at least a few weeks, until we make sure..." April couldn't finish the rest of the sentence, '_that she is normal'_, was left unsaid.

Leonardo looked at Nightmare. "I honestly don't think she'll care April." He finally said to her. "Nightmare is as Katherine was, and Katherine was the most caring and understanding person I have ever met." He said as he watched longing flash over his brother's face.

He too felt the same need rip through him, but he squashed the feeling down. Until the working was finished Nightmare was busy. The safety of April and Casey's child was more important than his need to hold the woman he loved in his arms.

"You two going to be okay here alone?" Raphael asked as he finally stood.

"Yeah, bro, we'll be good." Casey said with a nod.

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><p><strong>Michelangelo<strong> pulled the truck up to April and Casey's apartment. There were still some things that they had to grab, mostly to do with baby supplies like a crib, change table, cradle, diapers, toys and other things he probably couldn't even think of.

"Babies are too much work!" Michelangelo said as he heaved the cradle into the back of the truck. "I mean, this kid owns more stuff than I do! And she hasn't even been born yet!" He exclaimed.

"Yeah." Raphael said as he shook his head, putting two gym bags full of clothing in the truck.

Michelangelo studied Raphael and acknowledged that his brother looked good. He was still scarred, but he had finally lost the gaunt look to his face and he had regained enough muscle that he was broader than Donatello now.

Leonardo slid another box into place. "That's the last of it." He said to them.

"Finally!" He exclaimed as Leonardo closed the doors of the back of the truck.

An arrow struck the side of the truck. They looked in shock at the silent figures in black that slowly moved through the shadows towards them.

The foot ninja's attacked as they pulled their own weapons to defend themselves.

Michelangelo lashed out a kick hitting a foot ninja in the face. He clutched his nunchucks close as he struck out with his weapons to hit another in the chest.

"These guys just won't quit!" Raphael said as he punched a foot ninja in the face. He growled in frustration as he was hit in the left side with a bo.

They were pressed up against the side of the truck. Michelangelo couldn't see an end to the ninjas that attacked. They were everywhere. Michelangelo felt something burn through him. He pulled the dart from his neck. He looked at the dart in shock. He fell to his knees as his whole body went numb. He closed his eyes, the shouts of his brother's ringing in his ears.

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><p><strong>April<strong> was clutched in Casey's arms. She watched the three figures in the circle intently. Slowly she stood bringing Casey up with her. "You hungry April, we could go and..." Casey began but she was entranced.

"Something's happening Casey." She said softly. She could feel the air getting thicker. The hair on her arms stood on end as she smelled the ozone in the air.

The magic circles that had been encasing the three figures broke sending a massive wave of water and light to encircle them.

April closed her eyes against the blinding light. She heard a cry then. A small wail that made tears fill her eyes as she looked at the woman standing before her, a tiny form clutched in her arms.

"Congratulations April, Casey, she's perfect." Donatello said to her as she handed her the bundle wrapped in a green blanket. Dark indigo eyes looked at her from a face that she fell in love with on sight. She had a tuft of dark black hair that stuck out at odd angles. Her daughter looked at her and she looked back and knew that she would do anything for her.

She looked over at Casey who was looking at their daughter in wonder.

"Thank you." She managed to choke out.

Nightmare looked at her and smiled gently. "What will you name her?" She asked.

"Shadow. Shadow Katherine Jones." She said softly. Nightmare gave a soft chuckle.

"Shadow is a very fitting name I believe." She said with a smile."Thank you." She said softly. "Take care of her. I am being summoned." She said as her and Donatello strode away. Gabriel vanished into the darkness of the forest that surrounded them.

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><p><strong>Leonardo<strong> blurrily opened his eyes. His head pounded and felt muggy, as if he was having problems thinking clearly. His mouth felt overly dry and had almost a metallic taste to it. He could smell the strong powerful odour of gasoline.

The last thing he remembered was watching Michelangelo collapse onto the ground in front of him.

He hadn't realized what had happened to his brother, other than the fact that shortly afterwards his own world had gone black.

He looked up at his arms which were cuffed above his head to a brick wall. He noticed his brothers beside him all of whom were beginning to wake up.

He looked at the elegant chamber they were in. Braziers lit the room with an orange flickering light. He stared at the figure sitting on the throne in front of them.

He struggled against the metal that encircled his wrists and ankles.

He could see Raphael beginning to thrash."Oh come one. We've done this already!" Raphael shouted at the darkened figure. "Our being captured by the bad guys quota has been reached for this year." He sneered.

Raphael's whole body tensed up as the pain ripped though his body. His brother finally stopped convulsing and slumped.

"Raph!" Leonardo shout in concern.

"M'okay." His brother managed to grind out.

"What do you want Shredder?" Leonardo growled at him. He now knew that the cuffs they were chained to the wall with, were electrified.

The silent figure on the throne slowly stood.

The silver of his armour glinted golden in the flickering firelight. "From you I want nothing." He said in a deep menacing voice dripping with malicious intent. "Well not quite true, I do need something from you."

The shredder's face was in shadow, only the glinting of his dark eyes could be made out from within the confines of his mask. He held up a Tarot card with the image of The Devil. "You see, Hun came to me with, I will admit, an incredible story. Hun claims to have looked into the eyes of the Devil himself, and lived to tell the tale. Now you see, I was quite sceptical at first, for I could not believe that somehow the Devil would align himself with such creatures as yourselves, but then it hit me. You and your brothers always seem to elude me. In impossible situations you always seem to be able to escape. How could this be possible if not for the Devil's own luck? After much 'questioning' Hun revealed to me that you had a way of summoning the Devil to you if you needed him. Hun also confessed that though the Devil did indeed aide you, that he told Hun that if he attempted to harm you in any way, he would grant Hun immortality. Why this should be seen as a punishment I am unsure of, but to me, the offer sounded too good to be true. But under much 'persuasion' Hun revealed to me how I was to summon the Devil himself. I have decided that I would very much like to make my own deal with the Devil, and as added protection, I have had the best mystics in the world construct for me a magic circle powerful enough to remind the Devil who is really in charge of the situation. I will force the Devil to do my bidding." He walked closer to them.

"You have no idea what you are getting into Shredder." Leonardo warned.

The Shredder threw back his head and laughed. "No. The Devil has no idea what I have in store for him. It is too bad Hun killed your brother, the purple one, I should have liked to have had all of you watch and realize that your doom has finally been sealed. You will all become, to me, as insignificant as flies whose deaths will mean nothing. Of course I had heard rumours that the red one was dead, but you seem to be very much alive." The Shredder said as he approached Raphael. "But as only the three of you were together I must conclude that Hun has told the truth for once. Of course the video footage was very convincing." The Shredder said as he turned and pointed a remote at a big screen TV that lowered itself from the ceiling.

The screen was lit with slightly grainy video footage. Leonardo could see himself and his brothers chained to the wall. "Let us fast forward to the good part shall we?" He said as the video moved forward. "Here we go." He said gleefully as they watched their brother cut down, the knife going through his brother's heart.

Leonardo closed his eyes against the image because even though he knew his brother was still alive, his brother _had_ died at that moment.

"Shortly after this the footage goes all grainy and unwatchable. This is the time when Hun claims that the Devil appeared and the men from Hun's gang who managed to survive that night have collaborated Hun's story." The Shredder shook his head. "Leonardo, Leonardo. Always so righteous, so full of honour, and yet here you are, consorting with the Devil. They used to burn people for that you know. In fact I believe that is a very ingenious idea." He said maliciously.

Leonardo was able to move enough that he looked down. Each of them had a pile of wood sitting at their feet and it was then he realized that the strong smell of gasoline was coming from his own skin and clothes. Foot ninja with blowtorches emerged from the shadows to stand in front of them.

"Of course before I burn you to death, I need something from you." He said was he walked up to Michelangelo. The Shredder brought back his clawed left hand and lashed out at Michelangelo's face. The two claws cut viciously into his baby brother's cheek. Michelangelo screamed in pain as he and his brother's yelled in helplessness.

The Shredder looked at the blood on his claws and laughed. He walked over to a circle that had been carved into the stone floor. Runes and other symbols ran around the outside of the circle. The Shredder threw the card into the center of the circle.

"Hun!" The Shredder yelled.

Hun, looking much the worse for wear, entered the chamber holding two struggling figures.

Leonardo felt himself pale as the light hit the figures in the face, revealing their identities. "Miriam! Hunter!" He yelled in horror.

The Shredder chuckled. "Leonardo, you should know that love is a weakness. By loving another creature you leave yourself open and oh so very vulnerable."

"Let them go! They have nothing to do with this!" He said desperately.

"Oh but you see, they do. This woman knows you. She was your lover I believe. Disgusting really. A freak like you touching a human. Her actually letting herself be touched by something like you." He sneered with disgust. "But think about them as being extra leverage. If you try anything I will kill them. Of course, I have no idea what the Devil will wish for payment in regards to my demands, but I would think perhaps a couple lives, a couple souls, may tempt him." Miriam's eyes had gone big, all of the whites showing. Both were gagged so neither could do anything other than to just scream into their gags.

The little boy was terrified.

"You'll pay for this Shredder, mark my words, you are going to pay." He growled out.

The Shredder threw back his head and laughed. "I think not."

Leonardo glared at Hun. He was a dead man too. Hun looked back at him grimly.

His attention was pulled away by The Shredder who walked to the circle. "This summoning circle should keep the Devil right where I want him." The Shredder said as he threw Michelangelo's blood at the card. The card began to glow red as it rose into the air and began to spin. He blinked. Standing in the center of the circle, was Nightmare. She looked to be human and was wearing the same sexy secretary outfit she wore when they had paid a visit to Baёl.

Nightmare frowned and looked around. She took in everything with a momentary flick of her eyes. If she was surprised or feeling any emotion at all, he was unable to see it.

"It's a trap!" He heard Raphael yell as his brother was again shocked into silence.

"Silence Turtle." The Shredder said as he walked slowly around the circle looking at Nightmare. "I had always pictured you as being different. Of course, I suppose this could be some sort of trick. Luckily for me I have designed this circle so that the one in the center of it must tell the absolute truth. After all, we know that the Devil is renowned for his lies"

Nightmare looked at The Shredder and smiled. "So very clever." She said as she looked around the circle that held her. She cocked a hip to the side and crossed her arms over her chest. "A circle strong enough to hold Lucifer himself. Very impressive. I had thought that mortals would have long forgotten how to create such things. Of course, being able to do it and believing in it are two entirely different things." She said with a half smile. "As for my appearance, what were you expecting? The whole red skinned, cloven hoofed, goateed, and horned Devil. Please. That look is so old testament. I rather enjoy the form I am in right now. I don't think the world gives women enough credit, don't you agree?" She asked innocently.

Leonardo looked at her in confusion. He wasn't sure what her game was and she hadn't indicated to them one way or the other how this was going to play out.

"Of course if it will make you feel better." She said with a shrug as her form shifted to that of Samael. "Little cramped in here for this." Samael's voice came out in an angry growl. Her form shifted back to her human form.

"Are you really the Devil?" The Shredder asked her. "I don't want to find out I have summoned some two-bit demon." The Shredder growled out.

Nightmare threw back her head and laughed. "I am no two-bit demon. I am the Devil." She said with a wicked smile. "So tell me Oroku Saki, what is it that you want?"

The Shredder looked momentarily surprised at the use of his actual name but he quickly recovered. "You made an offer to Hun. I wish for the same offer to be extended to me." He said to her.

"You wish me to curse you with immortality?" She said in surprise. "Why would you want such a thing?" She asked him.

"How can one not want such a thing, lust after such a gift?" He asked her. "Think of all I could accomplish. I could have the world at my fingertips and no one would ever be able to stop me!" He shouted as he laughed. "I do however find it interesting that you have allied yourself with such honourable weaklings as these freaks." He said motioning to him and his brothers.

Nightmare's eyes briefly flashed to red and back to green so fast that, if you didn't know what you were looking for, it could have been mistaken for the flickering firelight. "But isn't that the job of Lucifer, to tempt those of Light to the Darkness?" She asked him.

The Shredder threw back his head in laughter. "I did not believe that you existed. I was very sceptical of Hun's story, but I was very determined to get to the truth of the matter."

"Oh, I exist." Nightmare said with a smile. "What is that mortal saying, 'The greatest trick the Devil ever played, was convincing the world that he didn't exist." Nightmare said with a chuckle. Her face turned serious. "You realize that there is always a price Oroku Saki?" She asked seriously.

"Of course. Take your pick. I have three mutant freaks, or if your taste does not run to the perverse, I have brought along a special treat. A woman and child." He said gesturing to Miriam and Hunter who looked at Nightmare and screamed. Miriam struggled briefly before she fainted.

"I was wondering the reason for the mortals." Nightmare said tilting her head to the side as she studied Miriam and Hunter. "But it is against the Rules for me to take one soul for another unless the soul is freely given in exchange, or if the soul offered be related by blood. So you could give me the soul of say, your son, however, I know you do not possess one. So in this regard I have no use for either the human woman and her son or the three mortal turtles." She said with a shrug. "Only you can give the payment, and the price for immortality, is your soul." She said in a deadly serious tone.

"Then all of these hostages are useless to me." The Shredder said. "Kill them all." He ordered. The foot ninja turned on the blowtorches while Hun briefly hesitated looking at the woman and child in his arms.

"No!" Leonardo screamed as he struggled against his bonds. He was going to burn to death with his brothers, and he will have gotten Miriam and her son killed because he had dared to try to love her.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

**Nightmare** looked at the scene in front of her and stepped back. She fell out of time. The chill of the 13th hour rose around her. She took in the scene that was suspended in time as she realized that she had stepped into Death's time, the time where Time did not exist. "Uh-oh." She said as she looked at herself in shock. That wasn't good. She shouldn't be able to shift into the 13th hour. Death could bring her through the 13th hour, or surround her with it, but she could not actually enter it on her own. She swallowed as she wondered what it meant, and if it had anything to do with the shadows that had invaded her Memory Room. She shook her head. _One problem at a time._ She looked at the blow torches, the men she loved covered in gasoline ready to be set ablaze, and the woman and child, the woman being something to Leonardo. She frowned as she made a decision. She would risk putting the child to sleep, but that was all she could do at this moment and not have this, Shredder, get suspicious. She stepped back into time.

* * *

><p><strong>Leonardo<strong> looked at Nightmare as she spoke. "I would not do that if I were you." Nightmare said in an unconcerned voice.

The Shredder looked at her as he held up his hand indicating he wished to hear what she had to say. "And why should I let them live?" He asked.

Nightmare smiled. "Well you see, I am not done with the mortal turtles. If you kill them now you will ruin the plans I have for them and I will be very reluctant to give you your wish if you ruin my fun. As for the human woman and child, dead hostages are no good. If you wish for the turtles to play nice and not do anything rash, I would suggest keeping both alive." She pointed out reasonably.

The Shredder made a motion indicating he wished for his ninja and for Hun to stand down. Leonardo felt himself relax. He realized then that he would have to just trust that Nightmare had the situation under control.

"I do not like the idea of paying with my soul." The Shredder said to Nightmare. "I could keep you trapped in there until you accede to my wishes without having to pay with my soul." He said to her.

Nightmare looked around the circle and shrugged. "I am immortal Oroku Saki. I have all the time in the world. Can you say the same?" She asked him. "But I suppose you could look at it this way. If you are immortal, why would you be so worried about your soul?" She asked with a tip of her head.

"Because with in dealing with the Devil there is always a catch." The Shredder said to her.

"Always." She agreed. "You are correct, you will not be completely and absolutely immortal. Nothing ever is. The gods could kill you of course. Though you would have to find a very powerful god to do so, and they are rather few and far between. Upset any powerful gods that you know of?" She asked him sweetly.

The Shredder laughed. "No."

"Fine then we have a deal. I shall grant upon one Oroku Saki the exact offer that was given to one, Hunter Mason. In exchange for eternal life, which removes you from the Accords of Heaven and Hell, I shall receive in payment, the soul of Oroku Saki, in the event of your death. Are these terms and conditions agreeable?" She asked.

The Shredder looked upon Nightmare who looked at him as if she was bored and had better things to do than make stupid deals with mortals.

Leonardo wondered if The Shredder was truly arrogant enough to make a deal with the Devil, and think he had won.

"The Accords of Heaven and Hell, what are those?" The Shredder asked in suspicion.

"The Accords are the rules that Heaven and Hell obey. Mortals are not allowed to be taken to Hell or to Heaven. You will be removed from this because you will no longer be mortal, and thus be struck from their list. You will fall under the jurisdiction of Nightmare, Goddess of Magic." She said with a shrug. "Are these terms agreeable?"

The Shredder frowned and gave a curt nod." Agreed." The Shredder said with all of the confidence and arrogance born of stupidity.

Nightmare smiled and the smile was not pleasant. She snapped her fingers. "It is done. You now possess eternal life. You cannot die." She said with a vicious smile.

The Shredder looked at her suspiciously. He grabbed a tantō from one of his foot soldiers. He stabbed himself through the heart. He doubled over in pain, but he didn't die. He pulled the tantō from his chest and began to laugh. But his laughter was short lived as he looked at the blood that poured forth from his chest.

"What is happening?" He asked as he placed a hand over his chest trying to stop the stem of blood. "What have you done to me?" He asked in horror.

"Only what you wished. I have given you eternal life, but this does not mean that you are invulnerable or that you can heal your injuries. All it means is that you cannot die." She smiled viciously showing her canines. "Donatello please come here." She said as Donatello emerged from the shadows. His brother's eyes glinted more red than gold, and he wondered if it was his brother or his demon that was in control. Though with the malicious smile on his brother's lips, he had to conclude that his brother was all demon at the moment.

"You can't be here. Hun killed you. I saw it with my own eyes." The Shredder said in shock.

Donatello smirked. "Oh Hun killed me. Of course thanks to him, I am now a demon." He said with a smile as he held up a brown sack.

"As you have taken Hunter Mason's offer for yourself you have therefore agreed to the terms of said agreement. The agreement being that in the event that he touched and or threatened Leonardo, Raphael or Michelangelo again, I would curse him with eternal life, and I would rip him apart. And once I was finished, my demon would collect all of the pieces and put them in a sack and this sack would be dragged to the very deepest, darkest pits of Hell, and tossed in where he would burn for eternity. And so, as I am obligated to keep all agreements, I must honour this one." She said with a smile. "But not to worry I am not totally without mercy, one day I may let you die."

"Impossible!" The Shredder shouted in horror. "You cannot do this, we had an agreement. You lied!" He accused.

"Not impossible. I am not Lucifer. I killed Lucifer and now I am the Devil. As for your pathetic circle. Using a magic circle to keep in a goddess of magic is rather like trying to hold back a wave of water with water. And I never lied. Not once." She said with a smile. As she stepped from the circle. "Donatello, if you will." She said with a wave of her hand that was now encased in her clawed gauntlets.

Donatello nodded. "As you wish." He said as he appeared in front of him. "I wouldn't watch if I were you." Donatello said to him as the manacles that bound him to the wall were ripped away, as if they were nothing more than paper stuck to the wall with tape.

He didn't look, but he could still hear the Shredder's screams.

Donatello looked at Michelangelo who was holding his bloody cheek. Raphael was attempting to stand, the manacles being the only things that had kept him upright.

He looked to where Hun was holding a now conscious Miriam and Hunter. Hunter looked to be sleeping, and he wondered how the child could be sleeping.

Hun set them down and Miriam clutched at Hunter pulling him into her arms. She pulled the gag from her mouth and her son's.

"Don't come near me!" She yelled shakily as she clutched Hunter to her. Leonardo felt guilt roll around in his gut. Guilt and horror and sorrow and what he had done, at what he had put this woman and her son through.

"What is it you wish Hun?" Leonardo heard Nightmare ask. Leonardo's eyes narrowed. He was going to kill Hun for daring to bring Miriam and Hunter into this.

He turned to see Nightmare drenched in blood. She languidly licked a bloody claw.

"I don't want to go to Hell." Hun said to Nightmare desperately.

"Well I'm going to send you straight there!" He yelled as he grabbed at a broken sword that had been dropped by one of the retreating foot ninjas.

"Now, Now Leonardo, let us not be so hasty." Nightmare said to him. "Hun did after all set up this whole operation to trap and get rid of The Shredder. That must of course count for something." She turned her attention back to Hun. "This I will promise you Hunter Mason. I, nor any of my demons, shall drag your soul to Hell when you die." Nightmare said to him.

"What's the catch?" Hun asked suspiciously.

"It is as I said, your soul will not go to Hell, ever. Does that sound reasonable to you?" She asked him.

Hun nodded his agreement.

"Nightmare!" He shouted. "You can't just..."

"Can and did. You had better get a move on Hunter Mason, or I will let Leonardo here at you, or perhaps Donatello, after all, you killed him." She said with a malicious smile.

Hum looked at them and ran.

Nightmare closed her eyes. "I wonder?" She said curiously. She opened her eyes and frowned as she pulled an hour glass from her cloak. "That can't be good." She grumbled as she looked at the glass. "How very unfortunate." She said as the last of the grains of sand began funnelling down to rest in the bottom. "Let us see. Five, four, three, two, one." She said as all of the sand trickled down to the bottom of the glass. There was the sound of squealing tires and the twisting of metal. "Hunter Mason really should have wore his seatbelt." She said with a shake of her head as the hourglass vanished.

Michelangelo shook his head. "Hun really should have known how the Jack 'o Lantern got its name. You should never make a Deal with the Devil. You'll never win."

"Very true, and now Hunter Mason will spend an eternity walking around in limbo, in the dark, alone. But perhaps I will be merciful one day, and give him a light." Nightmare said with thoughtfully.

Leonardo looked at Donatello who was holding a bloody sack. He could hear the muffled screams of the Shredder coming from within. He turned his head away because he wished he could feel _something._ Some regret, some need for mercy to his hated arch rivals, but he felt nothing, not even pity, and he supposed that was truly a measure of the creature he had become.

"Are you okay Raphael?" He heard Nightmare ask of his brother.

"Yeah." Raphael replied softly.

"Then that leaves only one loose end." Nightmare said as she turned to Miriam and Hunter.

Miriam closed her eyes as she wrapped herself tightly around her sleeping son. "I think I shall leave this to you Leonardo." Nightmare said.

He looked at the woman he loved and the woman he had tried to love. He took a step towards Miriam.

"Please don't hurt me." She whimpered.

"Miriam...I...I'm so sorry. I 'm not going to hurt you. No one is. I promise." He said gently. If it was possible she pulled herself in closer. He took a step towards her. He felt a blast of heat from behind him. He looked over his shoulder as a Hell gate opened and Samael stepped through in his human form.

"Take this Samael, throw it in the Pit if you will." Nightmare ordered as Samael took the bloody sack from Donatello's hand.

"As you wish, my Lady Morning Star." He said with a bow, but paused. "My lady, what have you done?" He asked in shock.

"I am not sure Samael. Perhaps, I shall find out later." She said with a shrug.

"Baёl wishes an audience My Lady." He said to her softly.

"With who specifically?" She asked.

"With Nightmare." He informed her.

Nightmare nodded. "You can go Samael." Samael reluctantly bowed and returned through the Hell Gate.

"Nightmare is there a way to make her forget. Forget everything, this night, me...us." He finished softly.

Miriam was mumbling softly under her breath. She was probably saying a prayer.

"Leonardo." Nightmare said. He looked at her finally and what he saw nearly broke his heart. Gone was the arrogant mask of the goddess, and of the Devil, instead, Katherine looked back at him, her face full of worry and concern. He would have expected anger, betrayal, anything but the look of saddened worry on her face.

"I'll pay. Whatever the price, I will make this right." He managed to choke out.

"No. You don't get that choice Leonardo." She said softly. "She does."

Miriam collapsed onto the floor and vanished.

"She is now safe at home in her bed. Her son will remember nothing, but, I can't just take away her memories without giving her a choice. Take it from someone whose memory has been locked away for thousands of years. You do not have the right. We'll see how things stand in the morning. She should at least get an explanation, a choice." Nightmare said as she walked over to him.

"Do I still terrify you Leonardo?" She questioned as she stood in front of him.

He looked at her, drenched as she was in the Shredder's blood. Cruel enough to rip him to pieces and know he will never be free of pain until she chooses for the pain to stop. Sadistic enough to offer Hun hope and plunge him into a hell of darkness for eternity, with no peace, no rest.

"Yes." He said simply because she did. she terrified him on so many different levels, but none of it to do with what she was, what she had become.

She studied him and smiled, and it was a smile that lit her eyes and made his heart light. There was part of him that feared how much he needed her. That's was why she terrified him. He was terrified and awestruck by the shear amount if love that she had for him, and he for her. Even though he knew that she loved his brothers as well, when she looked at him, with that smile, it made him feel as if she loved him and only him.

He frowned as he studied her again. There was something different about her. Something he had already noticed. Something his heart had told him, but what his brain had refused to acknowledge.

He grabbed her and hugged her to him as he felt tears well up and threaten to fall. "It's you." He whispered as his voice cracked with emotion.

She pulled away and smiled at him, with Her smile, Katherine's smile. She chuckled. "You guys got old, I mean really old." She said tipping her head to the side and rubbing her now bare thumbs across his cheeks. "You're looking better Leonardo, but you need to smile more." She said patting him on the side of the cheek.

She turned her attention to Raphael and grimaced. "I should have known you would make a mess of yourself Raphael." She said shaking her head and tracing the lines of the scars that covered his face. Raphael looked confused.

She then turned her attention to Michelangelo. Her eyes searched his as if she was looking for something. "You lost heart Michelangelo." She said solemnly. She touched his cheek. "Without the heart, the body cannot survive."

"I lost my heart when I lost you." He whispered as he pulled her close.

"Yes, but you were supposed to keep going, for me Michelangelo. I was counting on you."

"I failed." He whispered.

She sighed. "You didn't fail, you stumbled, but you managed to pick yourself up." She patted his cheek and pulled away from him.

"Is it really you?" Raphael whispered to her as he took a stunned step towards her.

Nightmare smiled. It was a brilliant smile that lit Leonardo's world. She laughed then. Raphael pulled her into his arms.

"What happened?" Raphael managed to choke out. "You were Nightmare, and now, you sound like...Her."

"Yes well, my soul and I had a nice little chat. Darkness told me that she would one day be alright with having been Her. I decided that I was okay with _being _Her, which meant that my soul is no longer a fractured mess, and I am who I was, well mostly because I don't look the same and I am really, really old. It hurts my brain to think about how old I am." She shrugged, but turned serious. "I missed you Raphael." She said pulling him tighter. "I missed all of you." She said pulling out of Raphael's arms and bringing them all in for a hug. "It's good to be back." She pulled away from them.

She pulled away and shook her head. "I leave you guys alone for not even five years and everything goes to pot." She sighed but turned serious. "How do you feel Donatello?" She asked Donatello over her shoulder. He had been standing a little bit away.

His eyes flicked to him and flicked away. His eyes were red-gold and Leonardo wondered if it was Donatello or his demon who was in charge. She walked over to Donatello brushing his cheek with her own.

Donatello puffed out a breath of air and brushed his cheek against her cheek. "I Hunger." He whispered. "And my brother's blood smells sweet." He choked out.

"Yes well, I was not being facetious when I said blood in the life. It is everything. It holds power. If you kill someone, devouring their blood until death gives you some small part of their essence, their life force if you will. Not to be confused with the soul." She said with a gentle smile.

"Great, now I want to drink my brother's blood." Donatello mumbled.

"Donatello. If your brothers can still love a creature such as myself, and if you can still love me, then they will still love you, and it is okay to love yourself. Demons do not do self pity and hatred you know." She said as she pulled Donatello into her arms.

Leonardo walked over to Nightmare and Donatello and put his arms around them both. "We still love you Donny." He said to his brother. "No matter what." Michelangelo and Raphael hugged Donatello close as well.

"Group hug!" Michelangelo said happily. "So now what? Shredder's gone, Hun's gone." He asked as they pulled away.

"I have business to attend in Las Vegas, Leonardo needs to fix his mess, and I suppose you two may want to go and say hi to your niece." Nightmare said with a smile.

Their eyes widened. "She's been born?" Michelangelo asked in shock a smile spreading across his face.

"Say hi to April and Casey for me." Nightmare said as Michelangelo and Raphael vanished.

"Would you like to run the rooftops Leonardo or shall I just send you to Miriam's?" She asked softly.

"Nightmare." He said as he felt guilt ride through him. "It isn't..." He began, but she vanished as he looked around Miriam's apartment.

His shoulders slumped. "What it looks like." He whispered, a feeling of loss welling up within him.

He checked on both Miriam and Hunter and found both to be sleeping soundly in their beds.

He walked into the bathroom, showered and lay down on the couch, waiting for his not really ex-girlfriend to wake up. Then he would then try to explain to her that the love of his life was not as dead as he thought, she just happened to be the Devil, and a goddess. He could see that going over really well.

* * *

><p><strong>Nightmare<strong> looked at Donatello, whose lips were stained red with her blood. She kissed him deeply then, the copper taste sharp and sweet in his mouth. She pulled away and sighed. She was tired, and felt cranky. Mostly she was tired though, so she was going to throw Baёl completely off balance. She didn't feel like pretending to be weaker than she was right now.

Nightmare looked around Baёl's suite. "I will never understand why you so enjoy modern décor." Nightmare observed, Donatello silent beside her.

Baёl twitched and sloshed a tiny bit of liquor that he was pouring from a glass sideboard into a crystal glass.

The living room was decorated in blacks and whites, with hint's of pale blue here and there, and glass, lots of glass. There was a glass coffee table, side tables, works of art, mirrors and glass dividers separating the large open space. She looked at the pristine white couch. "And you with children, your cleaning bill must be astronomical."

Baёl turned and looked at her. His hand shook slightly. "I see I shall have to kill whoever set the wards around this floor."

Nightmare sighed. She walked over to the couch and slumped down on it.

Baёl's eyes widened in horror as he looked at her bloodied appearance. She got rid of the blood before she touched the leather of the couch.

"Leather, smart choice." She said with an approving nod. "As for your wards, I can walk through them whenever I want. I was just being polite up until now. But I am just really tired and don't feel like playing nice right now. So tell me what it is you would like."

Baёl studied her for a minute and took a sip of his drink. "Can I offer you anything?" He asked politely.

Nightmare smirked. "Are you offering?" She questioned.

Baёl smiled. "How can such a weak creature with a permanent mortal body be so strong?" He questioned.

Nightmare shrugged. "Because I must."

Donatello walked over and stood behind the couch, arms folded. Baёl's eyes flicked to Donatello and studied her again.

His eyes widened. "An aura of death surrounds you." He said softly. "What have you done Nightmare?" He asked with growing horror. "The gods wish your death already. You, who will be the destroyer of worlds." He whispered.

Nightmare looked at him and smiled. "Oracles are so much fun. Always predicting doom and gloom. But remember there are always so many different kinds of destruction."

Baёl took another shaky sip of his drink. "I need you to un-damn my wife's soul." He said seriously.

"I need to?" She questioned.

"I am asking for your help." Baёl said, his blue eyes giving away too much desperation.

Nightmare sat forward resting her elbows on her legs. She looked at him seriously. "Do you actually know what you want Baёl. I need you to think about what you want very carefully, and remember, there is always a price for everything."

Baёl walked over and knelt in front of her. "Please, I am begging you. Whatever the price I shall pay it. I cannot bear to picture Samantha burning in Hell for wanting to be with me."

Nightmare sighed and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I can strip away the smut that darkens and damns her soul, and I suppose I could make her some sort of immortal creature, but..."

"No." He said with a shake of his head. "I have lived around both demons and mortals and gods for Millennia. And I have found that there is some spark, some life to humans that demons and other creatures cannot attain. I love my wife, and I want to spend and eternity with her, but..." He let the sentence hang.

"The price for what you wish, is your son." Nightmare said softly.

"Nightmare!" Donatello hissed in shock.

Baёl looked at her in shock. His shock turned to anger. "Get out." He said turning his head to the side so she wouldn't seen the broken expression he was trying to hide. "I'll find another way."

"To be a protector, a bodyguard." Nightmare finished.

"A bodyguard? He's only 1." Baёl said in confusion.

"I know. But bodyguard and protector are only a small part of what I need from him. I need him to be a Soul Starter."

Baёl looked at her, his eyes widening. "Such a thing does not exist." He whispered.

Nightmare smiled.

"What are you?" He asked as fear began leaking into his voice.

Nightmare's smile widened. "Something you could never understand. Do we have a deal?" She asked.

"Are you going to take my son away from me?" He questioned.

"Of course not. Raise him, train him, make him powerful. Release his dormant demonic powers, he will need them. In fact I would suggest releasing your daughter's powers as well, train her as you will trained him. And on his 16th Birthday, you will let him finish high school in New York." A piece of paper appeared in her fingers. "Enrol him in this school."

"And after?" He asked softly.

"Pray for his survival and that of his mate." She said softly.

"You are making my boy Soul Rung." He accused.

"Soul Rung? I have never heard the term. I would not think that it would ever occur for it to actually have a name." Nightmare said curious.

Baёl shifted on the floor, still lower than her but now he sat with one knee pulled up. "It doesn't happen, isn't supposed to happen, but there was always the possibility that it _could_. The spirits whispered that it happened once, a few years ago two mortal souls began to ring together. It rocked the godly realm. But one of the souls was killed. The other still lives a miserable existence, but I suppose there is always the chance that one day they may find the other."

"I suppose there is." She acknowledged. "I can make you and your wife Soul Bound." Nightmare said to him.

He nodded. "Who does my son protect?" He asked.

"A child who was not meant to be born." She said with a soft smile.

"Mortal?" He asked.

"Debateable."

He nodded again. "I accept."

"It is done. Your wife shall age from this point on. Her soul has been purged of the smut of Hell, and you are now Soul Bound." She said as he collapsed on the floor.

Nightmare stood and looked down at the unconscious demon. She smiled down at him. "You made the right decision Baёl. I am proud of you." She said as she gently touched him. His body shimmered revealing the monstrous form underneath. He had three heads, a cat, a man and a frog's all attached to a spider's body. "I think you have lived as a demon long enough." She said as his form shifted again, revealing a beautiful man with medium length black hair and sun kissed brown skin. "I free you Ba'al, god of rain and thunder, fertility and agriculture. I acknowledge you, fallen god of the Phoenicians.

Nightmare stood and looked at Donatello who was looking at her with shock and awe. She smiled."What did you just...?"

"Sometimes it is as much about the strength of Belief, as the quantity of the Belief." She said with a shrug.

"You mean, you believed him into being a god again?" Donatello said in wonder.

"Something like that." She walked into the room that held Ba'al's son. She picked the child up and looked at him. He was fast asleep. He was dark-haired like his father and possessed the same sun -kissed dark skin. "What colour are your eyes I wonder? I would guess green, like your mother. You have a Destiny I'm afraid, but I think she will be worth it." She said as she placed the child back in his crib.

"What is a Soul Starter?" Donatello asked softly.

"There is so much more to life than just breath and body, even soul. There is an innate spark of something that is so much more than that. Shadow basically needed a defibrillator to get her soul ringing again. By using Ba'al's son's soul I was able to get her soul ringing, but this meant that they now ring together."

"Soul Rung." Donatello said with a nod. "Just like you and Raph. And we are Soul Bound." He said softly. "Soul Mates."

"Yes Donatello." She said with a loving smile.

Donatello frowned at her. "But how did you get Ba'al's son's soul to ring with Shadow's? She's already been born."

Nightmare smiled. "I figured that Ba'al would ask me for a favour. I took the liberty of taking payment before the request, when we were last in Vegas. Come Donatello." She said to him.

"Why didn't he want his wife to be immortal?" Donatello asked softly.

"Being immortal is a heavy burden, especially for mortals, they usually go insane after a while. But mostly, he loves his wife just as she is. So when she dies she will be reborn and he will search for her, find her, and fall in love with her all over again." She smiled at him.

"Will I go insane?" Donatello asked as he looked at his hands.

"No, because I shall keep you sane." She pulled him close burying her face into his neck. "Come, it is time for you to go home."

Donatello frowned at her. Where are you going?" He asked suspiciously.

"To help Leonardo." She said softly.

"Are you angry with him?" He whispered.

"For what, trying to move on?" She asked him in surprise.

"For loving someone else." He said gently.

"Are you angry with me for Loving Samael and Gabriel? Are you angry with me for loving your brothers?" She questioned.

Donatello looked as if he thought over the question. "No." He finally answered. "Without Gabriel and Samael you would have been lonely. I suppose I can only be thankful that they were there for you. I'm sorry I growled at Gabriel. I don't think I was really myself."

Nightmare chuckled. "I shall see you in a bit."

Donatello nodded and vanished.

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><p><strong>Thoughts opinions? It is getting so close to the end.=)<strong>


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

**Leonardo** walked from the kitchen into the living room. He was restless. He had managed to get a few hours of sleep as both Miriam and Hunter continued to sleep soundly. He had begun pacing the small apartment, circling through the kitchen, living room and back again.

He heard a click a moment before the crack of a gun went off.

He closed his eyes.

He felt cold. Goosebumps formed along his skin.

He was dead. Miriam had shot him dead in her living room and he hadn't felt a thing. Hadn't even been able to spare a moment's refection on his life.

"I don't know whether I should be impressed, or irritated. I think I am both." Nightmare's voice drifted to his ears. "I suppose she does have a backbone after all, though her inability to rationalize the situation is rather unfortunate."

He opened his eyes and looked at the bullet stopped an inch from his chest. Even his hard shell would not stop a bullet. He breathed out a breath, the condensation crystallizing in the air.

Miriam was frozen, emerging from her bedroom door, bathed in a soft blue light, gun in hand, aimed at his heart. Terror and determination warring on her tear streaked face.

"She's pretty." Nightmare said with a nod.

He finally glanced over at Nightmare. "Yes she is." He acknowledged. "I tried to love her. I did love her, but..."

"I can make you human Leonardo." Nightmare said softly, cutting him off.

His eyes widened in shock. "If this is the life you wish, I could give it to you. If you love her, you can stay here with her, you will be human, and have no memory of what you once were."

"Do you want to get rid of me so badly?" He asked, his voice breaking.

"No. But I want you to be happy Leonardo. And if your happiness is reliant on walking away from me, I understand that."

"I want to be loved for who I am, and I am a mutant turtle." He said as he looked her in the eye. "You always loved me, just as I was."

"Always Leonardo. " Nightmare acknowledged with a loving smile.

"What did you do to her?" He asked.

"We are just in a place where no time exists, the 13th Hour." Nightmare said as she reached out and plucked the bullet from the air.

The cold retreated and the faint overlay of blue shadow vanished.

"I don't think the soundproofing in this apartment is very good. Are you trying to wake your neighbours?" Nightmare questioned as Miriam paled. "Luckily you are in a nice sound proof magic circle." She waved her hand and the golden circle that had surrounded them both vanished. "Don't mind me." Nightmare said with a wave of her hand.

Miriam brought out a cross and showed it to Nightmare. "Stay back." She whispered in a shaky voice.

Nightmare yawned. "You are not a very religious person Miriam Belle Parker. But even if you did have enough Faith to push into that cross, it still wouldn't work on me."

Miriam's hand began to shake.

Nightmare flopped down on the couch. "I'm just going to take a nap. Wake me up when you're done." She said as she curled up on the worn couch. "They don't make these things for wings." She grumbled as her form shifted to her 'human' appearance.

Miriam looked at her couch with horrified shock. She took two steps back and stumbled to the floor. He took a helping step towards her, but she scrambled across the hardwood until her back hit the living room wall.

"Stay away from me you demon." She said in a strained whisper.

"I'm not..." He closed his eyes and sat cross legged on the floor. "I'm not a demon Miriam." He said opening his eyes.

"He's not." Nightmare grumbled from the couch.

"I thought you were staying out of this." Leonardo growled.

"If I was really staying out of this, I wouldn't be here, now would I?" She grumbled.

"I can handle this." He growled at her.

"If I thought you could handle this I wouldn't be here." She said opening an eye and looking at him with an upraised eyebrow.

"Then why did you say I had to fix this when you were going to show up anyway?" He asked in frustration.

She yawned again. "Well I didn't think that she'd actually have the balls to shoot first, and ask questions later."

"Then if you didn't think I was in danger why did you show up?" He asked in irritation. This conversation was going to be awkward enough without Nightmare listening in.

"Let us just say, it is a long story." She said with a shrug.

"You know, I really hated it when Darkness was all mysterious, I don't need that from you. You don't have to trip and run your words around in circles. Can you not just give a straight answer?" He asked angrily.

Nightmare sighed. "No."

He rubbed his temples in frustration. "Why did I ever miss you again?" Leonardo asked softly.

Nightmare threw back her head and laughed. "Who but me can get you this stirred up Leonardo?" She asked with a bright smile.

He sighed because she was right. She got his blood boiling and that stirred up all sort of needs within him.

"Miriam..." He began softly.

Miriam was looking at him wide-eyed. She looked back and forth between himself and Nightmare.

"It's her." She whispered.

He looked at Miriam and nodded. He looked to Nightmare. "Are we free to talk?" He whispered.

Nightmare waved her hand and a magic circle carved itself into the floor forming a dome around them.

"Her who?" Nightmare asked curiously.

"You...you said she was dead." Miriam stammered.

"Who is dead?" Nightmare asked in a completely serious voice, but her eyes gave her away, she was laughing at him.

"Nightmare..." He growled.

"Raph's girlfriend." Miriam replied.

"Oh, Raphael's girlfriend?" Nightmare asked. "Is that all I was to you Leonardo, just your brother's girlfriend?"

Leonardo sighed. "Of course not, but..." He began.

Nightmare sat up, her eyes flicking to Miriam. "What did Leonardo tell you about...Her?" She asked.

Miriam looked back and forth between them. "He...he said Raph's girlfriend was kidnapped and that they tried to save her but she was killed."

"Hmmm. Okay. I suppose it is easier to explain it that way." She said with a nod. "But why Raph?"

"Because he is...whatever he is to you." He said, hurt leaking into his voice.

"I see, are you feeling left out Leonardo?" Nightmare asked. He glared at her. "Leonardo..." She began as she slid to the floor, kneeling in front of him. She touched his cheek and he revelled in it. He clutched her to him because he could never resist her.

"I love you, no matter what your brothers are to me, I have always loved you." She whispered to him.

"I know." He whispered back.

She pulled away from him and sat back up on the couch.

"What are you? Who are you?" Miriam asked in a whisper.

"That is a very complicated question." Nightmare said to her.

"Nightmare." He growled.

"Well see if you can explain it any better." She said as she lay back down on the couch and closed her eyes. She opened one eye. "You aren't going to shoot him again, are you?"

"N..No?" She said in a confused voice.

Nightmare closed her eye and he had the impression that this time, Nightmare was sleeping.

"Nightmare?" He asked her.

She remained silent.

He sighed. "She is Nightmare, goddess of magic and the Devil." He said to Miriam.

"She's the Devil, like actually the Devil?" Miriam asked in shock. She clutched her cross more tightly.

"She isn't Lucifer. She killed Lucifer. But you're right she used to be...Her. It really is a long and complicated story." He said as he truthfully thought about it. "But I'm sorry that I got you involved in this. The only reason that you and Hunter were taken was because of me. Hunter will not remember any of this, but Nightmare thought that you should have the choice. You can choose to know, or forget everything that happened.

"So there really is such thing as the Devil." She swallowed. "And demons?"

"Miriam there is a whole world of things out there that you don't even realize exists. I feel overwhelmed, and I'm a mutant turtle." He said seriously.

"You love her?" She questioned.

"With all my heart." He said earnestly.

Miriam ran a hand through her hair. "If I forget...?"

"You won't remember anything, this night, this conversation, possibly even me."

Miriam thought it over for a minute. "I can't." She said shaking her head. "Last night was the most horrifying night of my life. I have never been so scared." She began to cry then. She brushed away the tears. "I can't, I'm sorry I can't. I shot you. I didn't even think about it, I just shot you. I can't live my life constantly living in fear. It would be bad enough looking over my shoulder everyday looking for some huge goon out to get me." She shook her head. "And now you are telling me that demons are real, that the Devil is real, that there are such things as gods and goddesses." Her voice hitched. "I can't. If I can forget everything that happened, if I can forget even meeting you." She looked at him, her eyes pleading for him to understand. Her eyes went blank. He caught her as she fell.

He scooped her up off the floor and walked with her to her room. He lay her down gently. He felt Nightmare behind him. "She really did love you." Nightmare said softly.

"I know." He said with a nod.

"And you loved her." Nightmare said softly.

"I did." He acknowledged.

"Shall we go home?" She asked.

He turned and clutched her close burying his face in her neck. "I'm so jealous right now. Raph's soul rings for you, Donny, gods poor Donny." He said with a shake of his head. 'How do we...?"

"Donatello is at one with his demon Leonardo. He will be fine."

Leonardo nodded.

The air shifted around him as they appeared in the kitchen of Katherine's house.

He looked at April's beaming face. Donatello was holding Shadow, a look of awe and extreme discomfort on his face. He smiled. It felt as if he hadn't done a lot of that lately. Probably for nearly 5 years.

* * *

><p><strong>Nightmare<strong> smiled at the scene in front of her. Shadow was beautiful. She was truly happy for her friends.

Ice began to ride along her arms. The thin blue veil of the 13th hour hovered over everyone.

"Hello my love." Death's voice whispered in her ear.

"Hello Death, can I help you?" She asked as he stalked around her. Each movement fluid and graceful.

He was wearing black jeans, a black hoodie and black biker boots.

He walked closer and traced the line of her jaw. "Now what have you done?" He asked curiously, a hint of anger and menace rolling off him. "I felt you in the 13th Hour, where none but I and Reapers can travel. I can pull you in, but I did not, so you slid in by yourself." He said his face close to her own. "And I know you managed to pull a Life Glass from The Long Gallery, the room where every mortal's Life Glass is stored. But you did not enter my Realm, you just pulled it out of thin air. So my question to you is, what have you done?"

Her eyes widened in surprise. This was not the Death that she had known. This Death was much more human_. What had she done? Had some of what made Death, death, somehow transferred to her, and what made her human transferred to him?_

He looked at her seriously. "You are mine." He said possessively as he claimed her lips in a searing kiss. He pulled back and looked at her. He smiled. "What are you becoming I wonder?" He asked as he vanished along with the 13th Hour.

"Do you want to hold her?" Donatello asked her.

She blinked at him as her brain tried to catch up to her surroundings. "Sure." She said as she reached out and stopped.

"Is something wrong?" April asked in worry.

"No." She said shaking her head. As she held Shadow. She looked at her and smiled. Nightmare had taken every step she could to protect Shadow for the next 16 years. She pulled up the sleeve of Shadow's shirt exposing her leaf shaped light pink birthmark. She only hoped that everything she had done would fall into place, and what she needed to happen, would.

She handed Shadow off to Leonardo and took April gently by the arm, pulling her towards the library. Nightmare closed the door gently behind her and studied the younger woman.

April looked at her with trepidation.

"I have done all I can to protect her for those who would seek to harm her, and those who would wish to use her. She will be powerful, and power always attracts those seeking power. Her powers will be very weak until she is sixteen, and then, her powers will manifest. But I will provide her with a guardian who will protect her." Nightmare paused.

April swallowed and nodded. "I can't thank you enough." April said, tears brimming in her eyes.

Nightmare sighed. "I want to show you something." She said as she began pulling three Life Glasses from within the folds of her robes and placing them on the desk.

"I don't understand." She said looking at the hour glasses in confusion as she read each name.

"You can only outrun your Fate for so long." She said pointing to the names engraved on the brass plates of each glass. "As a mortal, you are never to know how long you have on this world. As a god, even I cannot predict the outcome of a mortal's life."

"Then...?" She asked in question.

"I am something different, or I suppose one day, I will be." She said with a shake of her head.

"How much time is this?" She questioned as she picked up Raphael's Life Glass, since it was nearly empty. She compared it to Leonardo's glass which was a little more full, but not by much.

"Raphael has 12 days, 4 hours, 3 minutes, 10 seconds left; Leonardo: 20 days 3 hours, 7 minutes and 14 seconds; Michelangelo: 4 years, 3 months, 12 hours, 9 minutes, and 17 seconds.

April slumped in the chair in front of the desk. She had gone pale. "Why are you telling me this?" She whispered.

"Because I love them too much to lose them. So I am going to stop time for them. Right now. Every minute than passes is one minute too long." She said softly.

"How? I don't understand." She whispered in confusion.

"They will sleep for the next 16 years, and when they wake, it will be to a world on the brink of Chaos. And I tell you this because I do not wish for you to hate me or question why I did this to them. They will not be around to help you with Shadow. Donatello and I will help you as best we can, but the less attention we give to her, the better."

April looked at her in agony.

"Nightmare!" Donatello burst into the library, a look of horror and panic on his face.

"I know Donatello." She said softly.

"Where are they?" He asked in dread.

They are in the Sacred Circle of the Primeval Forest." Nightmare said softly.

"But...Why? What are they doing..." Donatello looked at the three now frozen Life Glasses on the table. "Raph and Leo's are almost empty." He said softly with a thread of misery.

"Time for them has stopped. They are sleeping." She said softly a hint of melancholy in her voice.

"So their bodies are in...stasis?" He asked in confusion.

Nightmare nodded her head. "They will remain that way for the next 16 years." She said sadly.

Casey walked into the room with Shadow. "What's going on?" Casey questioned, fear lacing his words.

"April, Casey, I would suggest a move to anywhere outside of New York. The further the better. On her 15th birthday bring her back here, enrol her in this school." She said as a business card appeared in her fingers. She handed over the card which April took with shaking hands.

"I know your life is here. But you can't stay." Nightmare handed over a bag that appeared from thin air. "Everything you will need is in this bag. Money, a list of contacts of people who will help you if needed, as well as a tarot card to get in touch with me, as well as a phone number that will reach Donatello."

"You'll keep them safe?" April asked, voice shaking with grief and fear.

"Always." Nightmare promised as she smiled and gave the younger woman a hug. "Until we meet again April, Casey." She gently took Shadow from Casey. "And I shall see you in 16 years." She gave the baby to Donatello who said a few words and gave her back to April.

Donatello hugged both April and Casey Goodbye. "All of your things are back at your apartment. Good luck." She said with a wave as they vanished.

Donatello looked at her grimly. "Why?" Donatello asked.

"Because I love them too much to lose them to death. I am changing and warping their Fate." She said softly.

"You can't change your Fate Nightmare, you know that as well as I do." He said with a hint of anger.

"I know. But I will try." She said as she walked into his arms pulling him close and revelling in the comfort of his touch.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: A little bit of a shorter chapter than usual, but I think the chapter after this one will be the end.=) (if it isn't too long, we will see!)**


	21. Chapter 21: Part 1

**Alright everyone, sorry this chapter took so long to put up, but I've been so busy lately! Anyway this chapter ended up being way too long, so I have split it into two parts. I will probably post the second part tomorrow.=)**

**I hope this chapter ended up okay there is a lot going on...please enjoy.**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 21: Part 1<span>

**Donatello** lifted his head as he watched his brothers. Nothing had changed in nearly16 years. They remained as they had been, frozen in time; encased within clear crystal; bound around the magical amplifying crystal that Nightmare had created with the souls of Michael and Lucifer; and hidden within the Sacred Circle of the Primeval Forest.

He now even understood what the Forest was. The Primeval Forest was representative of The Forest. All forests and every forest since the Beginning, and was imbued with all of the magic, creatures and spirits that ever existed. The scientist in him had been fascinated. Any animal that ever existed lived out there, somewhere. All he had to do was search, and he had, when Nightmare had no need for him. He had seen prehistoric mammals, and dinosaurs. He had observed dragons, sphinxes, and unicorns wandering through the great trees of the forest and been left in awe of them.

Though the creatures that roamed the Forest seemed to remain away from the Sacred Circle, as if there were some great barrier, and for all Donatello knew, there was.

But he had found that the Forest called to him in a strange way. It wasn't as if he felt as if he couldn't leave, but there was a sense of home that rung within him. He had asked Nightmare, and she said it was because he was a creature of the Forest, and it would always beckon.

Thinking of Nightmare sent a pang on fear and longing through him. He hadn't seen her in over 5 years, and he missed her. He ached for her. He knew she was somewhere in Betwixt and Between, and alive, but that was all he knew. He could only hope that she would eventually come back to him, though he suspected that she would make it back in time for Shadow's 16th birthday in a couple months.

How she was keeping track of time he didn't know. In Betwixt and Between a few hours would have passed, but on Earth, it could be a few hundred years later. He knew that Nightmare was somehow able to counteract this phenomenon because of her ties to Hell, where time moved painfully slow in comparison to time on Earth. He had experienced Hell time by spending an inordinate amount of time in Hell. He was now over 200 years old, but here on Earth, just over 15 years had passed since he had talked to his brothers, and he missed them.

He curled himself more closely around his brother's encased forms as the Forest was rocked by what felt like an Earthquake, but was really another attack by the Fae. He could hear the trees falling and earth splitting and cracking.

He just hoped that Nightmare made it back soon before the entire place came down.

* * *

><p><strong>Shadow<strong> glared at her father. "I don't see why we had to move!" She complained for what seemed like the millionth time. She had spent her entire life in Anchorage Alaska, and now her parents had suddenly up and decided to move to New York.

Her father looked at her and gave her a strained smile. "We grew up here Shadow. We love it here, and we thought it would be good for you to be back here."

"I had to leave all my friends." She said angrily.

"You'll make new ones." Her mother told her gently.

Shadow glared at both her parents. They had been acting strangely for the last year, even more so the past few months. It was if they were really worried about something.

"Besides," Her mother continued. "This school has a gardening and botany program."

Shadow perked up a little. She had always had a thing for plants. She loved them. Half the time she liked them more than people. Probably more than half the time, if she truly admitted it to herself. And she could grow plants. Even if they weren't supposed to grow she could make them grow and thrive. Back home she had a bunch of fruit trees, that were really not supposed to survive the harsh winter, but seemed to anyway. "That is the only thing going for this school, and this uniform is stupid." She said pulling at the green and blue plaid skirt.

"You look beautiful dear. Have fun on your first day." Her mother said with a smile.

Shadow looked at the red brick school and watched as the other kids were dropped off by their parents. She got out of the car and watched as a few limos, a Ferrari ands a few other ridiculously expensive cars unloaded their passengers.

She leaned in the window. "Bye mom, bye dad." She grumbled as she headed off to start her first day at a new school, that was obviously populated by rich kids.

By lunch she had decided that she hated this school and she hated this city. She felt odd in the city, as if somehow she were suffocating. She was used to the mountains and the forests of home, here it was all steel and concrete. And the school was full of a bunch of stuck up rich kids who had judged her to be a hick and had not wanted anything to do with her.

She slammed into someone. She had been so upset that she hadn't been paying attention to where she was going. Her books were scattered all over the ground and she felt as if the day couldn't get any better.

"Why don't you watch where you are going?" An angry male voice asked her in irritation.

Shadow felt tears prick her eyes_. She would not cry_. She told herself.

"I hate this city!" The male voice yelled in frustration.

Shadow kept her head down. "Well that makes two of us." She said in anger. "You could at least help me." She said as she looked up that the guy standing in front of her, back partially turned towards her.

"You walked into me, I don't have to help you with anything." He said as he turned his head to glare down at her. She glared at him and their eyes met. She felt as if her world tipped.

He knelt down in front of her, never breaking eye contact. He was the most beautiful guy she had ever seen. His hair was black, so black that it had blue highlights. His face was sun-kissed light brown, which made is piercing green eyes stand out that much more.

She blinked and was able to pull her eyes away from his gaze.

"I'm sorry." He apologized. "I've just been having a really bad day." He said as he began helping her pick up her books. "You must be new." He said politely.

"Yeah, my family just moved here from Alaska." She said with a blush as his hand brushed hers sending a fission of awareness through her.

He nodded. "My father sent me here last year. I hate this place. I want to go back home. I graduate this year, and my dad says once I graduate, I can go back home." He shook his head. "I feel like I'm being punished for something I didn't even do." He grumbled.

Shadow felt her heart sink as she realized that he wasn't even in her grade. She was a freshman and he was a senior.

"My name's Ryven by the way." He said with a smile that showed perfect white teeth.

"Shadow." She said as he helped her stand.

"Shadow. That's a rather odd name." He said with a friendly smile.

"So I've heard. Over and over." She said with a roll of her eyes.

"Well I should get going." He said as he turned to leave.

"Yeah sure." She said with a sinking heart.

"You maybe want me to show you around?" He asked.

She beamed at him. "Thank you." She said sincerely.

After Ryven had given her the tour of the school, her day had vastly improved. The other girls in her class were suddenly talking with her and wondering what Ryven had said, and wondered what he had found so interesting about her.

Apparently Ryven was the most popular guy in school. He involved in many of the athletic clubs, usually to do with various martial arts and fighting techniques.

She ran into him after school as she waited for her parents to come and pick her up

"Thank you." She said to him as she tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey, I know what it's like to be the new kid in a new city." He said with a shrug.

"So who is picking you up?" He asked her.

"My parents." She said. "You?"

"Don't know. My new boss." He said with a shrug.

"Your boss is picking you up? What type of job?" She asked curiously.

He shook his head. "No idea. My dad set me up with the job. I just hope it doesn't suck, and that it pays well, or if it doesn't pay well, is at least something that is useful. Knowing my dad though, the job could be anything." He grumbled.

Shadow smiled. "Good luck with your new job." She said as she frowned as something caught her eye.

Something slid from shadow to shadow.

"Did you see?" She questioned. "But shook her head as she convinced herself that she had been imagining things. "Never mind."

Ryven was frowning and looking at the garbage bin. He took a step back, and then another.

Shadow saw a flash of blue-white and there was a blood curdling scream. She covered her ears. Ryven looked at her and frowned, worry entering his eyes.

"Where is that coming from?" She asked in worry as she looked around, the sound abruptly cutting off.

A black limo pulled up to the curb. The window rolled down and a white envelope was passed to Ryven, who took it in confusion.

Shadow caught a glimpse of a handsome man, with sandy brown hair and blue eyes. The widow was rolled up and the limo drove off.

"Ryven, where did that scream come from?" She asked. "Shouldn't we call the police or something?" She asked him.

"What scream?" He asked, tapping the envelope in his hands.

"How could you not have heard the blood curdling scream?" She asked in shock.

His intense blue gaze focused on her sending a wave of hot and cold through her.

"I think there is something special about you, Shadow Jones." He said as he stepped closer to her. "Something that makes me want to act counter to my nature." He said tipping her chin up and studying her.

She swallowed through the lump in her now tight throat. "And what is your nature?" She asked breathlessly.

He smiled. "I have a very solitary and destructive nature, but you make me want to be around you and protect you." He said softly, a worried smiled playing about his lips.

* * *

><p><strong>Shadow<strong> smiled up at Ryven. He was walking her to the curb where her parent were supposed to pick her up. Even though today was her birthday, she was going to have a big party on the weekend and invite all of her new friends. Ryven had offered to hold her birthday party at his apartment, (which was huge), and her parents had actually said yes, which was amazing! She had been apprehensive about introducing Ryven to her parents as her boyfriend, after all he was a senior, but he was only a little over a year older than her. But her parents had been oddly interested, even her dad. Though he had given Ryven a 'friendly' warning. But after all of the murders and disappearances that were happening, her parents were glad that Ryven was able to take care of her, and he had.

Her and Ryven had begun to see strange things, things that other people didn't seem to be able to see. Things that were from some of her worst nightmares. Also plants had begun to act oddly around her. It was winter, but sometimes she would look back at where she had walked and there was a path of flowers that had sprouted up. Also the plants in her gardening class had begun to grow unusually large.

Shadow took a step and tripped. She landed on her knees in shock. She felt something skim over her head. She looked up, and up, and kept going. A giant stood over her. As in an_ actual_ giant. He was a least 13 feet tall with light grey skin. He was human in appearance with overlarge cheekbones and brow ridge. His nose had a squashed broad appearance and teeth or perhaps tusks, jutted out from his bottom lip. He looked down at her. He was covered in ragged stained clothing of indeterminate colour, chains dripping from around his arms and neck. Hung around the chains on his neck were half rotting severed human heads, still dripping with blood. In his beefy hand he held a spiked club, the club that had nearly bashed her in the head.

She looked down at her foot where a vine had wrapped itself around her ankle, causing her to trip.

She rolled out of the way as the club came down beside her. She heard screaming and realized that her classmates had begun to panic. Which meant that for once, her classmates could actually see what only her and Ryven had ever been able to. But the screaming of her classmates had gained the attention of the giant standing in front of her.

"Hey big and ugly!" Ryven shouted. "Over here!" He said as he began jumping and waving his hands to attract the attention of the giant. Ryven looked at her over his shoulder. "Run!" He shouted. As the giant swung the club at him.

* * *

><p>"...beautiful Case."<strong> Raphael<strong> said to his friend. Only his friend wasn't there. In fact he was no longer in the kitchen. He looked at his brothers who were looking at him in confusion.

Raphael looked around and looked at the dark purple, scaled body of something large that surrounded them.

He took a startled step back as he looked into the golden eyes of the dragon that looked at them.

He grabbed at his sais as the dragon's head rose up20 feet into the air. "What the hell is going on!" He asked as his carapace butted up against his brother's.

The earth moved beneath his feet as branches and trees began tumbling around them. A huge wing was quickly outstretched blocking several huge pieces of debris from falling on them.

Suddenly the dragon vanished, to be replaced by Donatello. Raphael looked in shock at his brother. He looked older somehow. His face hadn't aged, but there was a heaviness in his eyes that gave the impression of time. But his brother's appearance _had_ changed. His brother was wearing metal shoulder guards, and a black breast plate over flowing purple and white robes. His face was badly scarred, with what looked like claw marks, some small, others large.

"Donny?" Leonardo asked in confusion. "What's going on? What happened, where are Casey, April and Shadow, and where is Nightmare?"

Donatello looked around as the forest groaned, another shockwave shaking the ground beneath their feet.

"The Fae are attacking the shields that circle both our world as well as this place. Since this place exists in a state of in -between the Fae have access to it. You three have been in stasis for 16 years." There was a crack as a tree fell. Donatello caught the massive trunk and threw it away.

"Holy super strength Batman!" Michelangelo said in shock.

Donatello rolled his eyes. "April and Casey are probably somewhere in New York. April called to say that they were moving back here as Nightmare instructed. As for where Nightmare is, I haven't seen her in 5 years, but she is somewhere in Betwixt and Between."

"Five years. Wait what do you mean we were in stasis for 16 years!" Raphael asked in confusion a thread of panic and anger leaking into his voice.

"Long story." Donatello mumbled as his eyes widened. "Nightmare!" He said in shock as Nightmare appeared out of nowhere. She hit the ground hard and skidded several feet away, where she lay still.

"Nightmare!" Raphael cried out in horror. He attempted to run to her, but Donatello held him back.

A dark haired woman, pale as the moon and bathed in darkness, appeared, walking towards Nightmare.

The entirety of the world spilt open. Behind the dark haired woman, thousands upon thousands of what he would consider to be monsters and things from nightmares, twisted, screamed and writhed.

Raphael looked at the army in horror and realized that this is what Nightmare had feared, what Nightmare had been trying to tell them wanted in, but he had never really understood, until now.

He drew his sais, his brothers drawing their own weapons. He took a step back. Donatello drew a huge halberd from his back. Gabriel appeared, drawing a glowing blue sword, the one he recognized as belonging to Nightmare.

Nightmare pulled herself up off the ground and wiped the blood from her lip. "I am impressed Medb" Her name sounded like Medin. "You are fighting your own battles. I did not think that the Queen of Air and Darkness would sully her own hands." Nightmare sneered.

Medb laughed and Raphael swore her heard the soft tinkling of bells. "When there is blood to be spilled, and the painful screams of my enemies to be heard, I want a front row seat." She said with a malicious smile that showed off her pointed teeth.

"You can't be here, you don't belong here, not anymore." Nightmare said as she pulled a black bladed sword from her back. It glowed red with bloodlust.

"My children are already here, and there are so many more awaiting to claim the human world as our own." She said with a satisfied smile which turned to anger. "For too long humans have ruled and dominated this world, forgetting what and who we are. We are the gods of the Earth. We, who were worshipped and revered; We who were sacrificed to and prayed to, have become pale shadows of what we once were. Now we are stories told to children that elicit not fear, and wariness, but laughter and ridicule. We are no longer feared and respected. A mighty race brought to our knees through disbelief and iron."

Nightmare smiled widely and began to clap then. "I do believe in fairies, I do, I do!" She mocked.

Whether Medb understood the _Peter Pan_ reference or not, he wasn't sure, but Medb understood being mocked.

Something hit Nightmare sending her sprawling into a large crystal. A bloody smear was left as she tumbled to the ground.

"You are nothing." Medb said to her as she pet the creature beside her. It was pig-like, with black, oily wet skin, and huge tusks that were red with Nightmares blood.

"I've heard that before." Nightmare said as she shakily stood. Gabriel and Donatello were each standing in front of her, trying to block Nightmare from further harm.

The monstrous sea behind Medb advanced. "This world is ours! Our Raths and Carins have been destroyed and besmirched. Never again shall we bow to the will of man."

"Medb, Queen of Air and Darkness, Queen of the Unseelie, sister to Oberon, you wish to take this world, to storm it, to subjugate it. That is not who you are, it is not who you were. To be this, would make you human." She said softly. Nightmare's skin began to glow. "You are filled with so much anger, so much hate."

"You know nothing of me!" Medb yelled.

Nightmare smiled. "I have known you. I have always known you. But even though you are mine, I shall not let you take this world, but I will offer you a new one, a new start. A world not corrupted by iron and disbelief. It will be a world full of magic, belief and power. A world where you will be as you once were. Creatures who lived within your Carins and Raths. Had mighty Tors that were feared and respected. I will take your memory, and that shall be your price for this gift. "

Medb threw back her head and laughed. "You, one small goddess, think to stop me? You offer me an new world, but wish to take my memory?" She shook her head in disbelief. "I can just take this one." Her voice grew dangerous."And because you are the goddess of magic, does not make you _my_ goddess. I am my own, I rule the air and the darkness, and when I kill you, I shall rule Earth."

The monstrous horde burst through the veil and poured into the forest.

"Help Shadow!" Nightmare yelled.

"What!" He yelled back in confusion. "No!" But it was already too late. They were back in New York.

"Raph, where's Donny, and Nightmare?" Leonardo asked in panicked horror.

"Must still be with back at the tree." He said as fear rolled through him. "We have to get back to them! There is an entire army wanting to kill her, we can't just leave her there!" He said as he looked around and then up. There was a huge giant attacking a boy, with flaming hands, and a girl who seemed to be manipulating plant-life somehow.

The girl looked at them in shock as a vine whipped out of the ground, and snagged his foot lifting him into the air. She looked like she was straining, trying to keep her attention focused on him, his brothers and the giant at once.

"Shadow?" Raphael asked in confusion as he looked at the young teen who was April, if April was a teenager and had black hair instead of red.

Raphael felt strange. Literally a few minutes ago she had been a baby, now she was old enough to drive. A whole 16 years of his life was gone and Donatello had done nothing to stop what had happened to them. And he didn't even know what had happened to them. And now he was hanging upside down staring at the ugliest motherin' giant he had ever seen.

Raphael sliced through the vine holding his ankle and landed on his feet. "Hey ugly!" He shouted at the giant that was warily circling the young fire wielding teen. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size!" He yelled as he charged the monster.

His sais embedded themselves into its flesh and stuck there. The giant looked down at him in irritation. The fire wielder punched the giant in the face with his flaming fist. The giant stumbled back and Raphael was able to pull his sais free of the giant's chest.

"You idiot!" The young man growled. "A Jack in Irons is one of the few Fae impervious to iron!"

"A what!" He asked in confusion.

The giant shook himself off.

"A Jack in Irons, he's a fairy." The young teen told him in irritation.

"How do you know this?" Leonardo asked as they slowly backed up from the advancing giant.

"Forget how he knows it, how do we stop it? And what the hell are you?" Raphael asked.

"My dad made sure I knew all the legends about the Fae. And I'm a half demon." He said as he began backing up.

"You're a what?" Shadow asked in horror.

The giant roared at them.

"You two want to save the relationship issues till later?" Raphael grumbled feeling oddly old. "How do we stop this thing hell boy?" He asked in irritation.

"I've never been to hell. I'm a half demon you...whatever freakish thing that you are."

"Mutant turtle." Raphael growled.

"Uh, guys..." Michelangelo said as he slowly began backing up. "I think big, tall and ugly is getting mad."

"You're Baёl's son." Leonardo said in shock.

"What of it?" The teen asked as he launched himself at the giant again.

The giant grabbed the teen out of the air before he was able to get to the giant. His whole body was suddenly covered in flames.

"Aren't you supposed to yell, 'Flame on!' or something?" Raphael asked as he charged the giant. The giant screamed in pain and threw the flaming teen straight at him.

He caught the teen full on in the chest and they tumbled to the ground in a fiery heap. Luckily the teen managed to extinguish himself before he was burnt too badly.

"Ryven!" Shadow screamed.

"How do we kill him!" Raphael yelled shaking the slightly dazed teen.

"You can't kill a giant, you never kill a giant." Michelangelo said thoughtfully.

The giant charged swinging his club wildly. A spike from the club caught Leonardo across the side leaving a bloody gash in his arm.

"Leo!" He yelled at his brother who doubled over in pain. Raphael took a second look and realized that the spike had scraped through part of his brother's plastron.

"I'm okay. Mikey?" Leonardo asked in a pain strained voice.

"Jack and the Beanstalk!" Michelangelo yelled.

Raphael smiled. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall!" He said with a grin.

"Shadow!" He yelled as he and his brothers leapt at the giant. Ryven shook himself off, leaping up and hitting the giant in the face with a flaming fist.

The giant stumbled back, a vine catching his ankle and tripping him. He fell to the ground in a massive heap that shook the ground beneath them. The giant began struggling, but vine after vine began wrapping over and around the giants limbs and body, trapping him. The giant roared and struggled, but to no avail.

Raphael grinned. Ryven smiled and then lost his smile, a flash of pain ripping across his face. He fell forward, cut down by a creature with a huge axe. It's forehead wet with blood that dripped from its bloody cap.

"Ryven!" Shadow screamed as Leonardo leapt at the advancing goblin- like creature, with its gory, blood drenched cap. Leonardo's swords caught the axe as it swung at him. He tried to push the Fae back, but they Fae was so much stronger, and Leonardo was injured. Michelangelo leapt on the Fae's back, choking it with his nunchuks.

Shadow ran to Ryven cradling him in her arms, and talking to him softly.

"Oh hell." Raphael said as the world was ripped open. Fae spilled out by the thousands. Some slithered, some flew, some were so huge they moved along the skyscrapers which only reached their kneecaps, making the giant they just battled look like a child's play toy in comparison. "Oh shit." He said in horror.

The world seemed to flicker as a massive crystal appeared in the sky. It began to glow as the sky erupted with screams and a rain of blood. All Raphael could make out were flickers of movement and flashes of weapons, and Raphael was betting that Gabriel and Donatello were up there somewhere, battling part of the Fae army.

The world was then pulled asunder. The horizon became black and polished like that of a mirror.

Leonardo gasped. "Nightmare, what are you doing?" He asked in horror as the mirror began to ring. The army of Fae that were on this side of the mirror turned their heads and, as if in a daze, began to walk towards the mirror.

Raphael could just make out, in the depths of the mirror, the image of a tree, bigger and larger than what mortal eyes could even fathom.

The Fae on the other side of the mirror had crashed right into it, or at least Raphael had to assume that is what happened, since he could not see past to the other side of the mirror.

The goblin-like Fae that Michelangelo and Leonardo were fighting, turned and began to slowly make its way towards the mirror.

Raphael hear the mirror ring again, the sound reverberating down into his soul. It called something within him. It felt like it was calling him home.

He took a step towards the mirror and then another. He felt pain lash through him then, which snapped him out of his daze. He grabbed his brothers who had began to walk towards the mirror as well. They did not stop just brushed him off. He slapped both Leonardo and Michelangelo across the face hard. They both looked at him in shock.

"What's the?" Michelangelo asked him, his eyes wide as he rubbed his cheek.

He heard a crack of splintering shattering glass as another wave of red-tinged agony burst through him.

Michelangelo and Leonardo hauled him up from the ground where he had fallen. His eyes sought out Nightmare. He could see her floating behind the giant crystal. He could just make out the strain and pain that was flashing across her face.

"Nightmare!" He shouted at her as he struggled from his brother's grip. The crystal cracked again and Raphael couldn't breathe the pain was so intense.

"She's going to kill herself!" He yelled as he made it two steps before he fell again, his body a riot of agony.

"She's using too much power!" Leonardo shouted at him as the wind kicked up, bringing with it more creatures than just the Fae. All loping, flying and running towards the mirror. Nightmare pulled two swords from her back, the blue bladed sword, and the black bladed sword. She slammed both swords into the crystal. Pain split up and down through Raphael.

"Raph!" Leonardo said in worry. "Oh god you're bleeding." Leonardo said, but his brother's voice was coming from far away.

Raphael looked at Nightmare and knew that this would be the last moment he would ever see her alive. He knew it down to his very soul.

The crystal shattered.


	22. Chapter 21: Part 2

**I apologize, I was hoping to have this chapter up yesterday.(Stupid cold)**

**Anyway, last chapter! Yay! There will also be a little bit of an Epilogue and h****opefully I managed to tie up all the loose ends...=)**

**I just wanted to thank everyone who has stuck with the story, and I hope evyerone enjoyed reading it.=)**

**And a big giant thank you to Griffon of the Night and Forgottenforever for all of your support!**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 21: Part 2<span>

**Raphael** looked in surprise at Donatello, who appeared beside them. He was battered, bloodied and bruised. He looked at the crystal with growing horror as it shattered.

Raphael's heart stopped.

Donatello screamed as chains whipped and broke around him, but they dissolved instead of lashing back to kill him. Donatello looked at his hands in shock.

Nightmare was dead.

"No." Donatello said in disbelief. "It isn't supposed to end this way!" He shouted into the darkened sky. "If you die, I am supposed to die with you!" He yelled as tears trickled down his cheeks. Donatello vanished then.

Raphael's heart began to beat again. _She was gone...again. _His numb mind thought as he struggled to watch the sky. Two women, one of darkness, one of light, were thrown from the falling, shattered crystal. They were flung into the mirror along with a few shards of the crystal, the swords, and Nightmare's armour. The remains of the crystal tumbled and fell along with Nightmare's body, only to be lost in the plumes of smoke rising from where the crystal fell.

Raphael let out a keening wail that shattered through the now silent night.

"We can't have lost her again Raph." Leonardo said, his voice filled with too much grief.

Tears fell silently down Michelangelo's cheeks as he walked over and put a gentle hand on Shadow's shoulder as she wept for Ryven, who was also dead.

"Please come back to me. Please." Shadow whispered. "I love you, even if you are a half demon." She said, her heart breaking in grief and sorrow.

The world went red and blue. Literally. The sky opened up revealing a beautiful bright heavenly light. The earth split and cracked leaking hot stream that covered everything with a thin overlay of red destruction.

Angels rained down as demons crawled through the cracks in the earth.

Donatello appeared out of the red tinged mist that surrounded him. He held Katherine's body in his arms. Her hair was the colour of burnished copper, russet and gold. Her skin was pale, but no longer ghostly white. Her cheek was free of the butterfly mark of the Nightmare _godhede_.

Tears had fallen and still glistened on his brother's cheeks. Donatello stopped and looked at them, a shattered look on his face. Gabriel landed beside Donatello, his white wings pulled in close. Azazel too, landed on the other side of Donatello. His red skin made even redder with the haze. Both looked shattered and lost. Katherine's body vanished leaving Donatello to clutch at nothing but gold tinged air.

Four Angels landed in front of them. "What did Nightmare do, where is she?" One of the Angel's demanded.

"I shall tell you what she did." A dark skinned angel in white and orange flowing robes toned. "She ripped the Tree of Life from this world." He said looking at them accusingly. "She has doomed this world to Destruction. Without the Tree, all life on this planet shall cease to be. Heaven and Hell are already colliding, falling and rising to Earth."

"What does that even mean Uriel?" The other angel asked angrily.

"It means that the Tree not only connected Heaven and Hell and Earth together, it also held them apart. Without the Tree they have begun, as I said, to collide."

"So how do we stop it?" The first angel asked.

"We don't Raphael, we don't." Uriel said with a shake of his head. "We should have destroyed Nightmare, or allowed the gods to destroy her when it was revealed that she was to be a World Destroyer."

"Where is Nightmare now? Where is she?" The Archangel Raphael asked.

"Gone." Gabriel said with a catch to his voice.

"Yes, she has fled from this doomed world." Uriel accused in anger.

"No. She is dead. Destroyed by the effort to pull the Fae and other creatures of magic from our world to another." Gabriel said sadly.

Raphael looked around him at the destruction that the Fae had wrought. They had only been in the world for a few hours at most, but they had destroyed so much. Most of the buildings were smouldering ruins, but worse then just property damage, was the human casualties. There were so many human bodies, strewn about, like broken dolls.

"I would believe you to be a traitor to Heaven Gabriel, but I never would have believed you to be a traitor to Earth." Uriel accused through clenched teeth.

"I am no traitor. To Earth or to Heaven. I never Fell." He said defensively. "I loved Nightmare. And even Heaven is not so cruel to allow an angel to Fall because of love. I am still an Archangel, Uriel, but I was bound by a promise to Nightmare, and imbued with her powers." He shook his head. "Nightmare would never leave the world open to destruction."

Uriel looked at Gabriel as if surprised, but shook his head. "You are wrong. She has fulfilled her role in the prophecy and..."

"Destruction." Donatello interrupted softly.

"Speak up King of Demons." Uriel said in irritation.

"There are so many kinds of Destruction. Because nothing is ever truly destroyed, sometimes, it is just different." Donatello said in shock as his eyes widened.

Heaven and Hell collided onto Earth, and the world shattered into pinpoint bursts of ringing light.

* * *

><p><strong>Shadow<strong> stood and looked at the light as the world shattered around her. Everything was gone. Destroyed. Utterly and completely_. So why was she here? And where was here anyway?_

"That is always the question, isn't it?" A beautiful, dark haired man with black eyes, pale skin and grey wings asked her. He wore black, flowing robes that seemed to be made of different colours and shades of black, the folds looking almost viscous.

"Who are you?" She whispered in fear as she took a step back.

"Death." He answered her.

"I'm dead?" She asked in shock, even though she had just watched the world destroyed around her.

"No." He answered.

"Where am I?" She questioned.

"The heart of Chaos." He answered.

"Why am I here?" She asked out loud.

"You are fulfilling your part in your Destiny." He said as another beautiful man appeared. He was as dark and Death was pale, with dark fathomless eyes and dark brown dreadlocks that reached the middle of his back. He was wearing flowing, white robes and smiled at her. He pulled his grey wings in close.

"Choose." The beautiful man said to her.

"Who are you?" She asked in confusion.

"Life." The beautiful man said.

"It is your Destiny to choose, Life or Death." Death said to her.

"I don't understand. You said I wasn't dead, why would I choose to die?" She asked in confusion.

"Not you, the world, the Earth." Life said to her.

"You want me to choose for the world to live or die?" She asked in horror.

"Yes." They said in unison.

"Life. I choose Life." She said shaking her head in disbelief.

"Even if that choice costs you something dear to you?" Death questioned.

"I've already lost that which was most dear to me." She said with a hitch of sadness in her voice, a tear trickling down her cheek.

"Even with the world in the state it is in right now?" Death asked curiously.

"Yes." She said firmly.

"So be it." Death said with a nod.

Shadow looked at the white blankness around her, and knew what she had to do.

She knelt down, touching the cold white floor. She began to glow. A light green mist floated around her. She threw back her head and laughed as a small sprout pushed its way through the white ground. The sprout began growing and twisting. Up and up, larger and wider the leafy stalk grew, until a massive tree stood where there had been nothing.

* * *

><p><strong>Raphael<strong> took a deep breath. The world had ended. He knew the world had just exploded into a million, trillion, tiny little insignificant pieces. And yet here he was.

Raphael heard bells begin to ring. They toned like the chime of death, a lonely forlorn sound that rang stright down to his very soul. He turned and watched as three figures emerged from a light blue mist that covered everything.

"Darkness?" He found himself asking in confusion, only it wasn't Darkness, but a woman who bore a resemblance to Darkness. She wore the same style of robes, but hers were white, banded with a thick strip of black silk. Her headdress with the silver visor that covered her eyes, was white with a black star in the center. Her white wings blew softly in a wind that seemed only to touch her.

Raphael shivered as his breath froze around him.

Death was there by her side, dressed in black robes, his grey wings still. His dark hair rustled as he looked at them with dark eyes. Beside him, another man who possessed the same degree of beauty as Death.

The woman who Raphael knew used to be Nightmare lifted an arm and pointed past them to Shadow, who looked dazed.

"Who are you?" The Archangel Raphael shouted at the woman who stood beside Death and the other man.

"Some petty god who managed not to be called into the mirror. Though Death and Life stand at her side, she is nothing." Uriel said with a shake of his head. "But she is the child, the one who was not to be born." Uriel said pointing at Shadow. "Kill her!"

"No!" Gabriel shouted as the three archangels moved to kill Shadow.

The woman who had been Nightmare opened her mouth to speak. Raphael's eyes widened in shock.

"Cover your ears!" Donatello ordered as he covered his ears. Everyone but the attacking angels did the same. The angels fell to the ground in agony, their ears, noses, mouths and eyes bleeding.

Raphael pulled his hands from his ears and watched as Death walked towards Shadow. "No" Raphael said shaking his head in horror. "Nightmare did not want this." He whispered. "Why? Why would she save you only to kill you!" He yelled as Gabriel caught his shoulder pulling him back.

"This is her Fate." Gabriel said as he watched Shadow reach out and almost touch Death's outstretched hand.

"You made an interesting choice." Death said he bowed over Shadow's hand. Shadow waivered a little on her feet, a small smile on her face. "I do not believe I shall ever understand mortals." Death said pulling his hand away.

The blue mist retreated.

Raphael looked around him at a world that had not been thrown into chaos. The sun shone, birds sang, and a Tree bigger than anything he had ever seem shimmered and became a sky scraper that reached up into the heavens.

Ryven groaned and sat up. He quickly stood and grabbed at Shadow who clutched him tightly, tears of joy in her eyes.

"She was a seed." Donatello said in shock. "She held within her the power of the Tree of Life, and she was able to create a new Tree. A Tree that is stronger, because it does not rely on the old gods and old beliefs. It is newer, stronger. Better adapted for the world the Earth has become, rather than the Earth that had been."

Death walked back to the woman who used to be Nightmare, and softly brushed her cheek with his thumb.

"She is Dark Star, and she is my beloved one." Death said as ice began to form on his fingers.

They all vanished together in a ringing of bells.

Samael walked over to Uriel and helped him to his feet as he looked thoughtfully at where Death, Life, and Dark Star had stood.

"When the world is re-made, sometimes, new things rise. Other times, very old things wake." Samael said softly.

Uriel looked at Samael. "What is she? Who is she?" He asked in fear.

"I do not believe you want to know Uriel." Samael said with a shake of his head. "She can wait until another day. The mortals are starting to wake from their experience with Death, and Heaven must forge new Accords with the new High Prince of Hell." Samael told Uriel politely.

"You?" Uriel questioned.

Samael nodded. "Hell time and Heaven time are in sync now. Shall we see what else has been re-made?" Samael asked as they vanished.

Raphael shakily stood. He walked unsteadily towards the new skyscraper.

"Wait!" Ryven shouted as he set Shadow down on her feet.

"Where are you going?" Shadow asked.

"Into that building." Raphael replied. "You two, go make sure that April and Casey are alright. And tell them that Raph says hi, and I hope to catch up real soon." He said as he ran for the building's entrance.

The humans began to mill around and shake themselves off from what they were whispereing must have been a huge earthquake.

His brothers followed him into the foyer of the massive building. Raphael ran for the elevators, figuring that Death, and whoever Nightmare was now, would be on the top floor. He never made it.

He stumbled and Donatello caught him as they appeared in a huge room. Raphael looked at the floor and saw a star shoot across past a rotating planet. If the room had walls Raphael couldn't see any, just blackness that stretched on for eternity.

A Black marble throne stood at one end of the 'room'. Dark Star sat in the throne, Death on her left, Life on her right.

"Darkness?" He asked wondering if somehow Nightmare had become Darkness.

Dark Star stood and pulled her headdress from her head. He closed his eyes and turned his head away quickly.

Dark Star chuckled and was standing suddenly in front of him. "It is okay Raphael, you can look at me." She said to him. "I'm sorry that I worried you." She said softly.

He looked into her face. She was pale, but not white, her hair however was. It fell in glorious waves to the middle of her back. Her green eyes smiled at him, but he knew that her eyes could contain the universe within their depths.

"Who are you?" He asked her in a whisper. "What are you?"

She smiled at him. "I am Chaos." She said evenly."I am a Destroyer of worlds, a Creator of worlds. I ripped apart universes and created something _new_. Darkness, Chaos, Nothingness, the mother of everything and nothing, rose up, and as I died, reclaimed my soul, because I was a star born of Darkness. But I was not what I once was. I drank the life blood of Death himself. Death and life do not, can not, exist within one being, but because of me Death _Understands_ Life. And his blood allowed me, a being of life, to Understand Death. Death's blood altered my memories and allowed me to hold his powers. And so it was that I became Darkness, because The Darkness could never contain what I now was. But I am not _Nothing_, I am _Something_. And so, I am Darkness, but the other side of Darkness. I am Chaos."

"Because in the beginning, there was nothing." Donatello began softly. "Nothing and darkness and chaos, but all three are really the same at the beginning. And the world as we knew it was destroyed, and when there is destruction, there must always be creation."

Chaos smiled. "Yes Donatello, always. And Chaos is both." She said as she pulled Raphael close. "But you were wrong Donatello, Shadow was not a seed. She was more like a flower, or perhaps a fruit. She carried and dispensed the seed. If she had been the seed, she would have become the Tree, and that would have been unfortunate I think." She said pulling him more tightly against her. "I've missed you so much Raphael." She whispered to him.

"What the hell?" He said, angrily grabbing her arms and pulling her away from him. "You died. Again! Do you have any idea what you put me through!" He asked her angrily. Her eyes widened slightly."Did you know?" He asked dangerously. "Did you know that you would somehow survive this? That your body would die, but that you would somehow still exist?"

"I will always exist Raphael." She said with a tip of her head.

He shook her again. "That isn't what I meant. I mean, that you would exist where I would be able to see you and touch you again. Did you know!"

She looked at him seriously then. "Raphael, my circle of Fate needed to be closed. I knew this from the moment I realized my soul was mortal. What would happen to me after, no, I did not know. I knew that if I saved Shadow's life, it would have consequences for me. But I would never trade my life for hers." She said with a cord of steel and challenge in her voice.

Raphael looked away, because as selfish as he wanted to be, he knew that Chaos was right.

"I want to be able to call you Katherine." He said softly. "For me, I want you to still be Katherine."

"Raphael, I will always be her. But I am so much more than what she was, and you need to understand this." She replied.

He gave a curt nod because he remembered Darkness, and with Darkness, there were glimpses of Katherine, every now and then.

Chaos pulled herself from his arms, and reached out to Michelangelo and Leonardo. She hugged each of them close. She turned then and walked to Donatello pulling him close. "It is over Donatello." She said quietly.

He buried his face in her neck and held her. "The chains are gone." He whispered.

"Yes Donatello, the chains are gone." She agreed.

"That reminds me." Raphael growled. "What's the big deal puttin' us to sleep for 16 freakin' _years_!" He asked as anger as betrayal built up within him.

Chaos' stepped out of Donatello's arms, her eyes flicking to Death who was still standing by the black throne.

Leonardo touched his shoulder. "You were trying to alter our Fate, weren't you?" He asked quietly.

Raphael blinked in confusion. "What?"

"You can't outrun your Fate Raph." Michelangelo said quietly. "It was Raph, wasn't it?" He asked." You brought him back, but that meant that his time was running out again, wasn't it?"

Chaos' eyes flicked to himself and to Leonardo. "The bullet." Leonardo said grimly. "That's why you were there, because I was supposed to die. So you can only delay the inevitable."

"Death is always inevitable." Chaos said seriously.

Death walked up behind Chaos and pulled her into him. Death smiled and held her possessively. "Chaos is mine." He said to them.

"Yes, I am." Chaos agreed as she smiled up at him. "As you are mine. I am where I was Destined to be, wrapped within Death's embrace. I am a force of Creation and Destruction, Death is both chaotic and orderly, therefore he exists for me, because of me. And Life, well, Life exists in awe of me." She said with a nod to Life who bowed to her. Life smiled a white toothed smile, winked and vanished. "He loves me, but he is not _in_ love with me."

"So you choose Death?" Raphael asked in hurt and confusion.

"Death is mine Raphael. I love him, and one day you will understand what he means to me. But right now, all I want to do is curl up in bed with you and your brothers, and go to sleep. Dying is very hard work you know."

Raphael stomped up to her and pulled her from Death's arms. "You and me are doin' so much more than just sleepin'" He growled as he swung her up in his arms.

"Raphael, what are you doing?" She asked him in confusion.

"You got a bedroom in this place?" He questioned. "Hell, right now I will take almost any reasonable surface." He growled at her.

"Raphael..." She began, as a blush rose up on her cheeks.

He cut her off. "No. I've lost you too many damn times. I'm makin' sure I don't lose you again." He said with determination.

"Raphael, you're mortal, I don't know..." She began.

"I am going to make love to you, Katherine, Chaos, Dark Star, whatever you want to call yourself. If it ends up killing me, then fine." He growled as he stomped towards the white double doors of the room.

"What about your brothers?" Chaos asked him.

He looked over his shoulder at his brothers. His eyes flicked to Leonardo whose expression was shocked and jealous. He looked at Michelangelo who was looking steadily at him, a hint of a smile on his face with only a twinge of jealousy. "They can get in line." He grumbled, but stopped and frowned as he looked more closely at Donatello.

"Donny..." He began as he took in his brother's changed appearance and his closed off face. Besides Michelangelo, Donatello had always been the easiest to read. And right now Donatello was giving him a blank mask worthy of Leonardo.

"You and Nightmare were alone for 16 years...?" He let the question hang.

His brother looked at him with his reddish gold eyes that briefly flashed more red than gold. "I was with Nightmare for over two hundered years Raph. I shared a bed with her, but she would never allow me to make love to her." His brother informed him.

"Two hundred..._years_?" He asked in shock.

"Hell time moves more slowly than Earth time Raph. You think that everything that fell into place took a mere 16 years to arrange?" Donatello asked, shaking his head.

He felt staggered by the information Donatello had given him. His brother had spent over 200 years with Nightmare, and was not able to consummate their relationship.

"It's okay Raph," Donatello said with a half smile. "I will be content to be her lover for the rest of eternity. She is my soul mate. That bond can never be broken, even if you become her husband."

Raphael took another step and froze. Husband_. If having sex with Chaos didn't kill him, he would become her husband. But what would that make him? Would he even still be mortal? _He wondered.

"I don't know Raphael." Chaos said shaking her head. "Death?" Chaos asked.

"As you wish my love." Death said with a bow.

"Doesn't matter." He said as he kicked open the white double doors. A forest spread out before him. "Great." He said kicking the doors behind him closed.

"Bedroom?" He questioned.

Trees grew in denser, fashioning walls around them. Dense branches and leaves formed the roof. A bed was formed by four small trees twisting their branches together. Flowers and moss grew making something resembling a mattress of some sort.

"That's kinda creepy." He said when the 'bed' was finished.

Chaos chuckled. "I'll make sure we get a normal bed."

"Yeah. You gonna order one from where, Godly Furniture Inc?"

"No, I can make one." She said with a smile. "But right now, this is important. It is a Beginning, and beginnings are as important as endings." She said softly as she looked up at the branches that made the roof. They spread open revealing the night sky, a glowing full moon overhead. He walked over to the bed and studied it more closely. "And you did say any reasonable surface." She pointed out.

He placed Chaos down on the soft green moss. He sat down beside her. "Kitten I don't..." He began, oddly nervous.

"Raphael, it is very rare for you to stop and think things out, and I do enjoy the fact that you have grown to be less impulsive and to use your brain more, but in this instance I am telling you, don't think." She said as she pulled him down with her and kissed him.

His mind went blank as he drank in the taste of her lips and the light flowery scent of heather. He was home, he was finally home.

He growled in frustration as he looked at her clothing. He knew there were going to be several layers to get through. He pulled his sai from his belt and tore the black band that encircled her waist. He opened the outer robe and studied the inner robe. It was black with a white band. He tore through the band and threw his sai to the ground. He opened the robe revealing pale, perfect, unmarked flesh. All of the scars she had had as Nightmare were gone, which he supposed made sense since Katherine's body was now where it belonged.

"Either your clothes come off Raphael, or I rip them off." Chaos growled.

Raphael looked at her hands which were still encased within black clawed gauntlets. He hastily pulled his shirt over his head and leaned back in to kiss her. He felt her soft hands rove over his arms and down to his jeans. He helped her pull his pants and underwear away as he greedily kissed her. His hands roved over her soft flesh. He was not taking his time, right now he needed to be inside her. He had watched her die, and he wasn't taking any more chances that she could somehow be taken from him.

He spread her legs wide and plunged himself into her. She let out an unexpected gasp of pain. He stilled as her warmth surrounded him. She rocked her hips and he began a steady pleasure filled rhythm, each stroke bringing him closer and closer to the edge.

"I love you Katherine." He whispered in her ear.

"I love you too Raphael." She said as he slowed his pace, trying to make it last as long as possible, but he was too close. He clutched her to him fiercely as he called out her name into the night as wave after wave of exquisite, earth shattering pleasure rode over and through his body. Chaos gasped and moaned his name.

He kissed her and held her closely. He felt oddly disconnected. "Chaos I..." He began. He felt as if his body was on fire.

"You are dying Raphael." She said softly.

He closed his eyes. "Totally worth it." He said as he died in her arms.

* * *

><p><strong>Donatello<strong> emerged from between the trees of the forest that had closed and surrounded his brother and Chaos.

He looked at his brother's body, because he knew he was dead. His brother's body began to glow with thousands of tiny pinpoint golden lights.

Chaos smiled. "He'll be fine." She said as she looked at him.

"He's becoming a god, isn't he" Donatello asked as his brother's body ceased to glow.

"Yes." She said simply as she moved Raphael to lay more on the side of the bed.

Donatello walked towards the bed. He could tell his brother was now just sleeping.

"I can smell your blood Chaos." He said softly as he advanced towards her. Chaos looked at him in surprise. "I can smell the scent of sex in the air, and the scent of my brother on your skin." He moved grabbing her, lifting her, and pinning her to the wall of the room they were now in. Donatello looked around at the grey walls. He looked over his shoulder at the four pollster bed with black satin sheets.

He turned his attention back to Chaos. He buried his face into her neck. "I've changed my mind. I don't want to be _just_ your lover. I want to be your husband." He pulled back and looked at her searchingly.

"I want you to be my husband too Donatello." She replied gently."And you can be. I can have as many Consorts as I wish."

He growled low in his throat. "I want to make you mine and only mine Katherine." He whispered fiercely. "But I know the days of having you to myself are over. I know I have to share you, I have shared you, but the part of me that is still demon doesn't like to share."

"I know Donatello, but you are my love, my lover, and my soul mate." She whispered.

Donatello pulled back. "You had best go to Leonardo and Mikey. I'll be waiting for you in the Sacred Circle.

Chaos looked at him in confusion.

"Leo's probably crawling the walls by now, go to him. I've waited well over 200 years, I can wait a few more hours."

Chaos nodded and was gone.

* * *

><p><strong>Leonardo<strong> looked over at Chaos as she appeared in the room that Death had escorted him to.

Michelangelo was in the room across the hall.

Leonardo's room looked like an exact copy of the room he had used when he had lived with Katherine, except this room had most of his belongings. His meditation mat, his bookcase and books, the artworks that hung on his walls, even all of his clothes were in the drawers of the intricately carved dresser.

He was currently lying in the very comfortable bed, not that he had been sleeping or even trying to sleep, but he figured he had nowhere else to really go.

His eyes roved over Chaos' naked body. She was as beautiful as he remembered. She tipped her head to the side. "Any regrets?" Chaos asked him.

He thought about her question. "None." He said as he held out his arms. Chaos crawled into bed beside him. He reached out and touched part of her white wing. It was soft and warm to the touch.

"You're naked." She said in surprise.

"So are you." He said pulling her close.

"You are taking this better than I would have thought Leonardo." Chaos said softly.

He stroked her cheek gently. "I thought about running." He said truthfully. "I don't like having to share you. But I know if I ran, you wouldn't let me go, I wouldn't have wanted you to let me go. And besides, you gave me the choice. I could have became human, forgotten everything, who I was, what I was, but in the end, I didn't want that, I wanted you. I've always wanted you. If to have you I need to share, then I can live with that. I don't like it, but it is better than living a life without you." He said as he brought her lips in for a searing kiss that left him breathless and wanting more. He reluctantly pulled away from her. "But what I don't understand," He began as her searched her face. "Was what you actually _did_." He asked her.

"That is a rather long question Leonardo." She said to him

"I know." He said as he rolled her under him. "I've always loved listening to you talk Katherine. I haven't talked to you in...well, a very long time." He said softly. "I've missed you. I've missed you so much." He said as he kissed her gently, trying to contain the need to make love to her.

"The Fae ripped apart the barriers to our world, and they began flooding through the tear. Using the tear that the Fae created I ripped the universe apart and opened a portal to Darkness' earth and from there I ripped through time and space to another world. A world that had at one time contained life, and was now barren of it. Though the barriers between this alternate earth and this new world, I fear, have become rather thin." She said with a frown. "To this new world, the Tree of Life went, as I opened the doorway beneath and around the Tree. I used the crystal which acted like a magical amplifier, almost like a philosophers stone to do this. The crystal was created using the souls of Michael and Lucifer. When the crystal shattered, the recoil of the magic released killed Nightmare and released two very powerful Goddesses, created with the souls of the two Fallen angels. One, a goddess of light magic, the other, a goddess of dark magic. It also released the Nightmare godhede into this other world." She paused in thought. "Of course even had I not returned, Shadow would have fulfilled her destiny to create a new Tree of Life. And Ryven protected her from all of the attacks she had suffered, so everything worked out I suppose."

"Does this new world have a name?" Leonardo questioned her.

"T'lae-ran." She said with a small smile.

Leonardo blinked at her and shook his head. "You were with Donny for a very long time..." He began.

"I love you Leonardo. You know this. I love you so much that I came back from the depths of darkness and chaos, because I wanted to be with you." She whispered to him.

He looked at her in shock.

"Please" She whispered as she rubbed her pelvic bone across his hardened length.

He rolled her over so that she was on top of him, wings spread out wide. "I want to see you. I want to watch every last inch of you as I move inside you." He said as he shifted her. She let out a gasp as he slid into her moist, warm depths. She began a slow torturous rhythm that brought him to the brink and spilled him over the edge. He brought her to him, clutching her closely to his rapidly beating heart. "I love you too Katherine." He whispered to her as his world went black.

* * *

><p><strong>Chaos<strong> blinked in shock as she looked around at Michelangelo's room. "All of this could not have fit in your room at home Michelangelo. " She said with a shake of her head.

Michelangelo grinned. "Well it's a magic Tree/Office building. I was bored and I wondered what I wished I could have in my room while I waited to have my turn." He said with a shrug as he pointed at his 50" tv, his game consoles and giant movie collection.

"How long did you think you would be waiting?" She questioned.

He lost his smile then, looking down at his feet. He flicked a glance up to her and then shifted his eyes away.

"I can't be your lover Katherine." He said with a shake of his head.

She was by his side in an instant, arms thrown around his neck, her body pressed into his.

"Kiss me Michelangelo, make love to me, make me yours." She whispered. "You will never be _just_ a lover Michelangelo. You will be my Consort, my husband."

He kissed her passionately as he pulled her down into bed with him.

* * *

><p><strong>Donatello<strong> watched as his mate walked closer to him. His brother's scents were strong on her naked body. "The forest is calling out for blood."He said to her as he attempted to shake his demon. He could feel the will of the forest riding along his skin. The forest had enjoyed the taste of spilt virginal blood, but now the forest was hungry for more.

"Yes. It is." She said as she watched him stalk towards her. A light wind blew, rustling her silver hair and wings. He was on her that instant pushing her into the soft grass that made up the forest floor.

He pinned her beneath him, the need for blood, control, and sex rolled through him. He tried to ignore the urges as she brought his face down until her gentle lips met his own. "It is okay Donatello. I am here and I am safe. You can let go. It is all over. You don't have to cling so tightly to your demon." She whispered.

"My demon is the only thing that has kept me alive for these last two centuries." He growled back.

"I know." She said gently.

"Blood, sex and sacrifice." He said softly.

"The forest is ever a demanding Beast." Chaos said softly as she bit hard into his neck.

He gasped. The pain only lasted a moment before Chaos rolled a wave of pleasure through him as he plunged himself inside her.

He finally allowed himself to let go of everything. His need, his lust, his fear. Everything that made him King of Demons, he attempted to let melt away. He needed to let go of the violence and constant fear, even though he knew it would never go away. He had changed from the young, naive pacifist that he had been. "I love you Katherine." He said quietly.

She pulled her lips away from his neck. "I love you too my lover." She said as he kissed her bloodstained mouth. But maybe if Chaos could still be Katherine, maybe it was possible for him to still be Donatello. He sank his canines into Chaos' neck and drank down gulp after gulp of her blood, and her power.

* * *

><p><strong>Raphael<strong> opened his eyes. He had died, he knew he had died. "Welcome back." Chaos said softly. Raphael groaned. He slowly sat up and looked around him. His brothers were piled beside him.

He blinked at Chaos. "I ain't dead?" He questioned.

Chaos laughed. "You're my husband Raphael, my Consort. You're also a god." She said with a shrug. "Go back to sleep. Sleep is good." Chaos said as she lay back down in Donatello's arms.

Raphael grumbled a little, but closed his eyes, pushing Michelangelo out of the way and firmly pushing himself against Chaos. "I may have to share you, but I ain't sharing a bed with my brothers every night." He grumbled. "Mikey more over and quit touchin' me." He said as he pushed his brother over. Michelangelo grumbled a little and rolled over.

Chaos chuckled and buried her face into Raphael's neck. His eyes opened. "Why are you covered in blood?" He asked her as he sat up and looked at Donatello who was also covered in blood.

She just smiled. "Go back to sleep Raphael." She said to him, and he did.

* * *

><p><strong>Thought? opinions?<strong>

**And as I said there is still an epilogue!**


	23. Epilogue

**If anyone is interested, if you put all 3 parts together plus the epilogue, this story is 565 pages long...=S**

**As I said before I hope everyone enjoyed the story! And thank you!**

* * *

><p><span>Epilogue<span>

**Raphael** wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Give me the Apocalypse. Give me Fae wars. I'll take them any day over having to change poopy diapers." He said as the object of his ire looked up at hims and smiled angelically. "You're a god, how do you even have poopy diapers?" He asked the little green eyed, dusky haired girl who looked back at him.

She just cooed at him.

He sighed. "It's a good thing you're cute." He said as he picked her up and studied her. Her black feather wings stretched wide as she giggled. "Sure, it's funny for you." He said to her.

"Da." She said holding out her pudgy arms.

Raphael smiled and his heart went all mushy when he looked at his daughter.

"See Raph, I knew you'd make a good father." Leonardo's voice said from over his shoulder.

He looked over his shoulder at his brother who was holding Silverstar tucked into his arm, the other held the hand of Ryu, Donatello's 3 year old daughter.

Michelangelo walked into the bedroom. "Come on girls, who wants a story?" He asked happily as Ryu smiled up at him, violet eyes twinkling in excitement. Her white hair glistened as she tucked her white, membranous wings closer into her back, her white serpentine tail lashing back and forth.

"Me!" Ryu said with enthusiasm.

Michelangelo grinned and held his hands out for Silvermoon. Raphael handed his 7 month old daughter to Michelangelo, who then held out his other hand for Silverstar, Silvermoon's twin sister, and Leonardo's daughter. The only difference Raphael could destect in the sister's appearance, was that Silverstar's eyes were a rich, dark, nearly black-brown, like Leonardo's.

Raphael watched them walk away and knew he would join them in a moment, but he wanted a private word with his older brother. "You know, it's funny." He began as Leonardo turned to him, sensing that he wanted to talk. "I thought I knew what was going to happen, because of what happened in the other world. We all married Darkness, only she calls herself Chaos, and I thought that we would have Starlight and Starbright, but that didn't happen at all." He said with a shake of his head. "Instead Donatello's daughter Ryu was born first, and she is the goddess of Dragons. Then Silverstar and Silvermoon were born and they are the Goddesses of the stars and the moon. And we know Chaos is pregnant with twins again, and that they are Mikey's, but they won't be Trick and Treat."

Leonardo looked at him thoughtfully. "I know Raph, I did too. But I think it is because Donny needed Ryu." He said softly. "Donny is Maō, God of Demons, and the only one of us who has a _godhede _so far. He's been through so much, but he's managed to claw his way back from the darkness that he had to cling to, to survive and protect Nightmare for all those years."

"I know." Raphael said softly. "Donny's eyes are even brown again, except when he's really angry. Then they go all red-gold, which still creeps me out." He said with a shake of his head. "But I think you're probably right. I think he needed his daughter to bring him back, because Chaos couldn't do it all on her own."

Leonardo nodded his agreement and continued with his original thought. "As for why our daughters aren't Starlight and Starbright, I think it is because this world needs more gods than Darkness' world. Most of the gods and magical creatures of this world left, leaving a huge power vacuum. It's why Donny has had to put down so many demons trying to attain a _godhede_." Leonardo shook his head, but paused in thought. "But I'm glad that our daughters are our daughters and are unique to us. Silverstar is _my_ daughter, Chaos is _my_ wife. Starbright was my counterpart and Darkness' daughter." He said softly. He gave a half smile. "But I suppose we still ended up with twin daughters with you and I as their fathers."

Raphael smiled then and chuckled. "Yeah."

Leonardo turned and paused. "You happy Raph?" He asked curiously.

"Yeah Leo, I'm happy." He said as he clapped his hand on his brother's shoulder.

"You sure Raph, even knowing that one day Chaos is going to take Death as lover, and most likely Gabriel and Samael as well?" Leonardo asked.

"Even then." He said with a nod. "I know we've only been married for 4 years, which is really only a drop in the ocean compared to eternity, but I love her Leo. And I know she loves me with everything that she is." He said as he studied his brother. "You?" He asked.

Leonardo smiled. "Same." He said as they began to walk to the door. "Speaking of Love, Shadow and Ryven's wedding is this weekend." Leonardo said with a smile.

"I know. We get to go down and smooze with the mortals and demons, and of course Ba'al. Formerly known as the demon Bael, and now god of this that and the other thing." Raphael said with a chuckle.

"Think Ba'al is going to faint or run when Chaos walks in?" He questioned.

"Faint." Raphael said with a chuckle. "Having the scariest god on Earth walk in on his son's wedding is going to be priceless."

Leonardo grinned as they walked out the bedroom door.


End file.
